Simple enough question eh? The reason I ask is that All Media Scotland is talking about PR Week‘s PR Week Powerbook (yup, you can read the whole thing online) – ‘the definitive guide to the most influential people in PR’ – and according to AMS, there’s only a handful or two of Scots in the 300 strong list.
According to the article:
Of the Scots entries, seven are actively practising in Scotland. They are: Alex Barr – BIG Partnership, Glasgow; Barbara Clark – VisitScotland; Neil Gibson – BIG Partnership, Glasgow; Carol Matthews – Matthews Marketing, Glasgow; Julie McGarvey – 3×1, Glasgow; Nora Senior – Weber Shandwick; and Beverley Tricker – Tricker PR, Aberdeen.
The others are mainly London-based: Mike Murphy – Trimedia, Gordon Beattie – Beattie Communications, Andrew Brown – EDF Energy, and Alan Twigg – Seventy-Seven PR.
(one thing that stuck out for me – how few of those main Scottish PR sites have anything even remotely resembling social media/web2.0 – even basic things like blogs or twitter details).
Now the tone of the AMS piece suggests that there should be more in there. So let’s have a look at the figures –
- The CIPR has more than 780 members drawn from public relations consultancies, public sector organisations and PRs working for private sector companies in Scotland.
- It is estimated that around 4000 people are employed in the public relations industry in Scotland and that the industry turns over around £450 million per year.
- Scotland’s population is around 5 million, compared to 61million in the UK
So there’s 11 Scots out of 300 in the list, Scotland’s population is roughly 8% of the UK total. By that terribly simplistic set of sums and some assumption making, there should be around 24 or 25 Scots.
So what gives?
In all honesty, I don’t know – but can’t wait to sit down and have a full read to see what it says – but one simple explanation may be that people had to be nominated and the vast majority of PRs were just too busy to get round to nominating themselves, spending their time on clients instead (that’s not to imply that the people above don’t spend time on clients – far from it. They all have fantastic track records).
It will also be interesting to watch this over the coming year as digital media moves more to the fore and how that affects things.
But is Scotland rotten at PR and is Willy from the Simpsons the best person from Scotland at shouting from the rooftops (yup, that is what you calla tenuous link)? I don’t think so, but what do others think?
2 responses to “Is Scotland rubbish at PR?”
The question should really be: why are London-based organisations so biased against anyone who happens to live north of Watford?
As an Englishman based in Scotland for more than 25 years I know only too well that such anti-Scottish bias is typicial of English-based organisations. It is not only the Scots that think that but anyone who has spent time living outside the M25.
PS. Not only is that possible to live outside Lndon but it is also a far better lifestyle…but don’t all rush up here at once.
MrMcGill,
Gontroversial as ever.
In fairness, the few Scots on the list deserve to be there. No quibble with that.
However, you are right in one important respect – that Scottish PR has managed, at best, a lukewarm response to Web 2.0.
A Facebook page and a Twitter profile does not a digital agency make.
The good news is that there are signs of life – and I comment you to our own website at http://www.holyroodpr.co.uk.
Of course there are many Web 2.0 improvements which could be made, but it is alone in Scottish PR circles in a number of respects:
1 – We put all of our content online. That’s everything, including press releases and every piece of coverage we can conceivably track down. Transparent or what?
2 – We have extensive photo AND video galleries which are being added to regularly.
3 – Our site – especially the front page – changes substantially every working day. Not once a week or once a month. Every day.
4 – Each clint has their own, dedicated microsite within the main website – aggreatging all their presss releases, coverage, news, photos, video and any other relevant content or information we can conceivably come up with.
5 – We have a healthy,vibrant and at times controversial blog attached to the site, where staff, clients or random passers-by can engage in dialogue.
6 – Our site barely talks about us. It is completely dedicated to our clients – which means entirely driven by content.
I realise to a man of your digital nous this is hardly rocket science. But I’ve done my reserach – and I’d challenge you to find anything else like it in the Scottish arena.
Now, where’s that big, fat, Google-rich link please? something like http://www.holyroodpr.co.uk – Scotland’s leading PR expert in traditional and digital media. 🙂