Square in the Air Review
7.7/10A London PR and creative agency for sport, betting, and gaming, EGR B2B PR Firm of the Year in both 2025 and 2026. Twenty years of trading since 2006 under the founding owners, over 150 clients globally, a 50-person team with every discipline in-house, and clients headlined by 888sport, William Hill, OpenBet, Pragmatic Play, and Light & Wonder. Pricing is on request.
Our read
- Five awards since 2014, four of them EGR.
- Twenty years of continuous trading since 2006, still founder-owned by the Esdailes, with the succession already done: Bill Esdaile chairman and Ben Cleminson CEO inside a six-seat C-suite.
- The service stack covers PR, social and influencers, ambassadors and sponsorship, design and branding, video and content, and affiliate content, with the October 2025 creative division adding brand strategy and advertising on a fully in-house production stack of 50 people.
- Client relationships that last: OpenBet and SIS go back to 2015 and are still on the book a decade later, alongside 888sport, William Hill, Grosvenor Sport, Pragmatic Play, Light & Wonder, and Yggdrasil.
- The US side is four years in: the 2022 Chalk + Dog joint venture with CTP opened with Tally Technology and Huddle Tech on the books, and Tally is still there.
- No written case studies, so there are no numbers on what the work delivered.
- Pricing is on request, so budgeting starts only after a brief and a proposal.
- The creative and advertising division is months old, launched in October 2025 under two senior hires, so there is little brand campaign work under this roof to look at yet.
Betting and gaming operators and suppliers that want the most decorated PR and creative shop in the lane for a UK or European launch, a rebrand, or a sustained media-relations retainer with the full production stack in-house.
Buyers who need published rates or written case studies with numbers before the first call, or teams shopping for performance media buying rather than PR, brand, and content.
Markets & licensing
Square in the Air has sold PR to sport, betting, and gaming since 2006 and has over 150 clients globally. The UK is the core market and the relationships run long, with OpenBet and SIS on the list since 2015.
Square in the Air entered the US in July 2022 through Chalk + Dog Communications, a 50/50 joint venture with Boston consultancy CTP led by Ben Cleminson and CTP SVP Todd Graff, with Tally Technology and Huddle Tech as launch clients. The work now fronts as Square in the Air US, a dedicated offering spanning strategic communications, investor and product showcase events, design, social, video, and sponsorship activation, and the US book runs to six clients, Tally still among them.
London is the trading base and the UK is the core book, with clients running from 888sport, William Hill, and Grosvenor Sport to OpenBet, Pragmatic Play, Light & Wonder, and Yggdrasil.
- EGR B2B PR Firm of the Year 2026EGR B2B Awards
- Winner at the ceremony on June 3, 2026 at City Central at the HAC in London.
- EGR B2B PR Firm of the Year 2025EGR B2B Awards
- Winner, the first of the back-to-back pair
Licensing tier: An agency, so nothing to license.
Clients across the UK, Europe, the US, and Hong Kong, over 150 in all.
The client base is regulated-market operators and suppliers across the UK, Europe, and the US.
Clients, partners & engagement
Agencies are judged on the accounts they already run and the platforms and registries they work through. The delivery model shows how the team is staffed day to day.
Everything is delivered by in-house units rather than subcontractors.
Engagements are scoped from a brief.
Services & capabilities
A PR-led full-service stack delivered by in-house units: media relations at the core since 2006, social media and influencer programs, ambassador and sponsorship activation, design and branding with its own web developers, video and content production, affiliate content, and, since October 2025, a creative division running full-scale brand strategy, advertising, and marketing campaigns under two dedicated C-level hires.
Press Office
The historical core of the shop: earned coverage and media relations for betting and gaming operators, suppliers, and affiliates across the gambling trade press and consumer media.
- Split B2B and B2C account teams of 12 and 10
- PR Firm of the Year at the EGR B2B Awards in 2025 and 2026
- Operator clients include 888sport, William Hill, and Grosvenor Sport, with suppliers OpenBet, Pragmatic Play, Light & Wonder, and Yggdrasil
- Ben Cleminson and Robin Hutchison are regular commentators in the gambling trade press.
Brand Strategy
The strategic expansion beyond PR, launched October 2025: full-scale brand strategy, advertising, and marketing campaigns led by two C-level hires, Hugh Johnson as Chief Client Officer and Nick Withersby as Chief Creative Officer, working with the in-house copy, design, and video teams.
- Launched on October 14, 2025
- Two C-level hires lead it: Hugh Johnson (Chief Client Officer) and Nick Withersby (Chief Creative Officer), both since October 2025
- Runs on the existing in-house copy, design, and video teams instead of subcontractors
The history
Longevity in this industry usually comes with a change of owner somewhere in it.
Bill Esdaile founded Square in the Air in 2006 as a PR shop for sport, betting, and gaming, and it has traded through every cycle since under the same owners.
Brands & clients on the platform
Corporate
Leadership
Milestones
- 2006
The agency starts out as a press office for sport, betting, and gaming.
- 2012
Ben Cleminson joins the board, and the succession later hands him the CEO seat, with Esdaile moving to chairman.
- 2014
EGR B2B Marketing and PR Provider of the Year, won again in 2015 for a second year in a row.
- 2017
SBC Awards Marketing Agency of the Year.
- 2022
Chalk + Dog Communications launches in July, a 50/50 US venture with Boston consultancy CTP that later becomes Square in the Air US.
- 2025
PR Firm of the Year at the EGR B2B Awards, then the October creative-division build-out with Hugh Johnson (Chief Client Officer) and Nick Withersby (Chief Creative Officer) hired to lead brand strategy, advertising, and marketing campaigns.
- 2026
A second consecutive EGR B2B PR Firm of the Year win at the June 3 ceremony, in a year of record turnover, over 150 clients globally, expanded video production, and affiliate and streamer growth.
Where they're pushing next
- The US, where the 2022 joint venture with CTP now fronts as Square in the Air US
- Creative and advertising work beyond PR, the October 2025 division build-out
- Affiliate and streamer content plus expanded video production
Awards & recognition
Longevity and ownership
Switching vendors is expensive, which makes the company's staying power part of the purchase. What the contract says about your data decides how expensive an exit gets.
Square in the Air vs alternatives
Most buyers in this market shortlist three or four vendors long before they take a single sales call.
| Attribute | Square in the Air | GameOn | Press Box PR | PRace |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Founded | 2006 | 2007 | 2018 | 2024 |
| Team | 50+ | 20+ | 47+ | 15+ |
| Pricing | On request | On request | On request | On request |
| Market posture | Licensed only | Licensed only | Mixed | — |
| Minimum engagement | — | — | On request | All three tiers are priced on… |
Pricing & terms
Square in the Air quotes pricing per project. Here's how the model and the terms are structured.
The engagement
Path to launch
- 1Start with an intro call or a written brief.
- 2Say which side of the house you need.
- 3Get a proposal for retained work across PR, social, and creative, plus project campaigns for a launch or a rebrand.
Support & account management
You can't demo service before you sign, so what a vendor puts in writing is the only floor you can hold it to.