A Focus on PR in Scotland

As is the case for all sectors of the UK media industry, London is the centre of all activity and it appears that the PR industry is no exception to this. UK PR agency lists such as the top 150 list complied annually by PRWeek are always dominated by the London based firms. As someone who is equally interested in building a career in communications as much as avoiding ever having to relocate to London, I am therefore intrigued to gain a better insight into the state of the PR industry in Scotland.

As discussed in this video interview with the head of Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) in Scotland, there is a large PR and communication sector within Scotland, with the CIPR having 750 individual members alone. The CIPR Scottish Awards held at the end of last month also demonstrate the great communication work going on within this country that is worth more analysis and recognition. A couple of agency names appear to be emerging as key players within the Scottish PR sector as demonstrated by the rundown of awards at the ceremony.

Stripe Communications, named ‘outstanding agency of the year’, was set up in Edinburgh in 2006 building up an expertise in Corporate Reputation Management, Internal Comms and Promotional and Brand PR for clients in a range of sectors- from retailers such as Grolsch to work with the Scottish government. The campaign they developed for Scottish charity Shelter, Hometime Scotland was described as ‘a gift for a campaigning journalist on a tabloid paper’ by Daily Record reporter Annie Brown, being credited for its innovative strategies of engaging with a younger audience through the media and developing strong social networks.

Weber Shandwick, ‘The UK’s leading multi-specialist PR agency’ also has a strong Scottish presence having been established for 25 years with offices in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Inverness. With their tagline ‘Advocacy Starts Here’ they have worked to develop strategic public policy advice and government monitoring systems for clients since the establishment of the Scottish Parliament.

Despite the challenges of a changing media and economic climate mentioned in this clip, the Scottish PR industry therefore appears to be in a healthy state with the rise and continued success of companies such as Stripe Communications and Weber Shandwick indicates. An interesting point of note, however, is that there were no entries in the Public Affairs category at the awards ceremony suggesting a possible area for growth in this area of Scottish PR.