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Southern and Brown leave Harrison Cowley to take in house client roles

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By The Drum Team, Editorial

August 12, 2005 | 3 min read

David Southern, a director of Harrison Cowley Edinburgh, has left the consultancy to take up the role of communications director at Heart of Midlothian Football Club.

It has also emerged that fellow Harrison Cowley director Malcolm Brown is set to leave the agency to become head of corporate communications at Scotmid.

Southern took up his new role at Hearts last week and his appointment marks the latest stage of expansion at the club, following its purchase by Lithuanian banker Vladimir Romanov last year. Southern commented: “I really do want to be enthused by what I do. At Harrison Cowley, latterly, I wasn’t getting that. It was difficult, having run your own business, to be managing and directing a much smaller part of a much bigger organisation. It just didn’t sit comfortably with me. Whereas here I’ll design the strategy, I’ll design the communications plan and it’ll slot into the business plan. I’ll work with Phil on that, and with the new commercial director, and I’ll take it forward. I’ll monitor it.”

He added: “Malcolm and I are best of friends first before best of colleagues. I think Malcolm and I know each other well enough to know that we’ve had a very, very good innings with each other. The first thing Malcolm did was shake my hand and say, ‘Well done.’”

Meanwhile Brown is set to take up the new role of head of corporate communications at Scotmid, which owns the Scotmid, Semi-Chem and M&S Toiletries chains.

He said: “Scotmid has been a client of mine for seven years, and during that time they’ve grown into a top 30 Scottish company. At this stage in their development the company needs an internal resource, and when one of your favourite clients comes forward and asks you to work with them you’ve got to consider it.”

About the end of his ten-year business relationship with Southern, Brown commented: “Obviously I met David when he was very fresh-faced and I was three stone lighter. We’ve had ten brilliant years when we went through every emotion imaginable, doing things we never thought we would get to do – building up a company, going through an MBO and then selling the business. It’s been a brilliant rollercoaster and I wouldn’t change anything that’s happened over those ten years.”

Brown is to stay with Harrison Cowley for the immediate future, however, and will play a role in recruiting a senior PR figure to run the Edinburgh operation.

Paul Kelly, chief executive at Harrison Cowley, said: “Obviously David leaving has created a number of rumours about the future of our Edinburgh office. We are currently reviewing our structure at the highest level following more recent news that Malcolm Brown is to leave us. We are in talks with high calibre individuals who can continue to give our Edinburgh office the leadership and drive that this market requires. Until that appointment is made Malcolm remains at the helm of our Edinburgh operation.”

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