This could be confined to Australia but there are currently two agencies advertising heavily using Google Ad Words. P3 and Smart. It was actually Smart that caught my eye as I see them everywhere on the marketing blogs I frequent.

Now I understand that if someone searches for "cheap holidays" it's good to have your travel business at the top but I didn't think the same applies here. Although I did hear the story that a brand manager typed in viral marketing and pitched business to the top 5 agencies listed. But anyway back to my point.

Here's a quick check of some agency names and the sponsored links along with them. If your agency doesn't have a sponsored link (TBWA, Ogilvy) then sadly the two agencies don't consider you much competition or might be owned by your parent company?

FCB:

JWT:

Saatchi:

Publicis Mojo:

M&C Saatchi:

Leo Burnett:

What's funnier is when you search for "smart", P3 pops up in the sponsored links.
Looks like P3 have a higher CPC spend too as they are always above Smart in the listings.

If you search for Lowe a newcomer joins the frey. Brave New World.
Hey BNW you should update your keyword list as you're getting killed by Smart and P3 right now.

However typing in Lowe Hunt will bring Smart back into the game.

The only agency I got a double hit for was Grey Worldwide. So look out Grey they are after you!

Grey Worldwide:

Whoops my searching wasn't precise enough. Searching for Saatchi & Saatchi gives me a triple hit with a recruitment site thrown in. Be warned Saatchi everyone is out to get you.

Saatchi & Saatchi:

I'm not sure the agecies affected even care. But I just found it interesting that these agencies were advertising this way.

I suggest affected agencies regularly Google their name and click the sponsored links. Thus earning money for Google and wasting the rival agencies adwords budget.

I haven't spoken to either agency (not sure they'd answer questions about this) but I'd be interested in how successful this has been for them or if this is also done in other regions.