2007 New Year Honours

Advertising Agency

Having lost ScottishPower and following co-founder Liz O’Connor’s acrimonious departure, many wondered what the future would hold for The Bridge in 2007. But the agency has bounced back triumphantly in its tenth year winning a raft of high-profile accounts such as the newly formed University of Cumbria – thought to be worth £3.5m; Job Centre Plus and Belhaven Best not to mention picking up Gold at the EPICA awards in January.

Okay, so it’s long standing client SPT is due to tender next year, but no doubt the agency will be in with a good chance of retaining the account it has serviced well for so long.

2008 should continue to be a period of growth for The Bridge as its management team unveils its plans for development.

Also, more than worthy of note, is fellow Glasgow agency Frame’s continued success. Despite the untimely death of its founder Alan Frame last year, the agency continues to develop, with a host of key appointments as it continues to service an enviable client list that includes Subway, McEwans and Bulmers.

PR Firm of the Year

Following a turbulent 2006, this year has seen one of Scotland’s most respected PR agencies continue to build on its strong reputation and bring in several high profile brand clients and appointments.

Having appointed several new staff members throughout the year, The Big Partnership is closing in on employing 100 staff across its four offices in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Fife, although the Glasgow office continues to be very much the company’s HQ.

New clients wins this year have included Clydesdale Bank, Emap, T-Mobile, and The Edrington Group appointing the company to work for its whisky brand, The Famous Grouse.

Design Agency

Third Eye Design has once again achieved success that many companies will no doubt crave, having continued its business development at an extraordinary rate, through its offices in Glasgow, London and New York. 2007 started with the appointment of Hector Pottie as the agency’s new design director. While other figures would come and go at the agency – including the departure of creative director Kenny Allan to The Hub – the consistent high quality of design output never seemed to vary. With design work for clients such as River Island, international architects RMJM, The Macallan Whisky and Dow Jones’s Enterprise Media Group, the clients have also offered varying design opportunities.

Perhaps the most stand-out of all of Third Eye’s recent projects, however,was its appointment to create and implement the global branding, 
marketing and advertising for Santiago Calatrava’s Chicago Spire. 
The 2,000 foot tall Chicago Spire will be the tallest building in the USA when completed in 2011.

Winning the award for Design Consultancy of the Year for the second year in a row represents another remarkable achievement by the agency within the Scottish community.

Digital Company

Having undergone a major expansion process at the beginning of 2007 with the opening of an additional office in Glasgow, the base for over 40 employees, and with another office opening in London, Equator has strengthened its reputation in the industry this year. This was exemplified in May, when it went onto win the six-figure three-year digital account with VisitScotland in May.

Equator has gained a reputation for servicing the hospitality trade, and this too was strengthened with the appointment by Ramada Jarvis to design and develop the company’s website, before being retained as the company’s online marketing agency over a three year period.

The company was also named in The Drum’s Top 20 hottest agencies list.

However, mention should also be reserved for Dog Digital. Having moved to new custom-designed premises earlier this year, the agency has also continued to reinforce its reputation as one of Scotland’s leading digital agencies, working with a range of high-profile clients.

Printer

Rated at number two in The Drum’s Scottish Print Review, with well over half a century of experience within the print and communication industry, J. Thomson printers has defied a difficult year for the Scottish print industry and continues to employ nearly 100 members of staff. The company is able to offer a wide range of services from direct mail, print and project management using some of the most up to date techniques available.

J. Thomson prides itself on continued investment in technology to ensure that the most efficient printing techniques are available to clients. In a world where speed (and cost) now matters most, it has not let quality suffer as a result.

Market Research

One of the largest independently owned market research firms in Britain MRUK, overseen by managing director Jim Law, continues to service a wide variety of clients and offer them invaluable insight through its varied and insightful services.

With an ability to run across almost any business sector, MRUK has been expanding on the traditional research methods that it has utilised for years to strengthen and develop the use of its online research techniques.

With links throughout the UK to offices in London, Bristol, Birmingham, Cardiff, Newcastle, Manchester and Leeds – the Scottish presence of MRUK has been able to call upon a wide range of expertise and resource, maintaining the company’s leading position in the market research field over the last year.

EDINBURGH

Advertising Agency

Scottish Advertising Agency of the Year 2007, the Newhaven team began the year celebrating the win of the Bank of Scotland business – adding it to ScottishPower and Tennent’s to build an enviable raft of Scottish clients. However, a change in creative teams followed as Paul Mason and Mark Harrison moved to Sir Frank Lowe’s Red Brick Road in London, which meant the welcoming of Rufus Wedderburn and Chris Watson from The Leith Agency.

Later in the year, Newhaven’s first work for the Bank of Scotland was released, while the Welsh contingent at the agency were happy to announce the account win for distillery Penderyn.

The agency’s turnover increased by £1.3m over the last financial year, which meant it witnessed a gross profit increase of £400,000 from the previous year, growing from 17 staff to 27 by late 2007.

It’s most high profile work of the year was its Tennent’s campaign supporting the Scottish Football team which, if story’s are to be believed, was read by Walter Smith as his team talk for the half time speech in the home victory against France at Hampden.

Well known for a culture that its staff appreciates, as many others look on enviously, Newhaven was named as Advertising Agency of the Year at this year’s Scottish Advertising Awards.

PR Firm

Arguably the fledgling success story of the year in the communications industry was Cello’s foray into the world of Scottish publication relations, with the launch of Stripe.

The agency was quick to make its mark winning the Taste Festivals account in a joint venture with Brand Events and Channel 4, as well as Young Scot and Dakota Hotels. The agency also celebrated winning the much-coveted John Lewis PR account and is currently working on the promotion of the Postcode Lottery across Scotland.

In order to service its growing number of clients, Stripe brought in new senior figures. Emma Miller now leads the agency’s consumer lifestyle accounts as associate director and account director Nina Deakin joined too.

Design Agency

With the departure of Nick Ramshaw to its Leeds HQ, it took Elmwood a while to find and name his successor. That name turned out to be that of Jo Coomber from Sony Ericsson where she was responsible for the strategic and creative development of integrated global marketing and brand-building campaigns.

That sorted, what else can the agency get up to? Ah yes…make some tea. Or in actuality create its own brand of tea, named Builders.

Across this year’s Design Consultancy of the Year awards, Elmwood ranked consistently high across all polls, finishing a joint second with Stand in the Peer Poll and second over all in the Scottish Design Consultancy of The Year review.

Meanwhile the agency continued to complete a number of major jobs, including the HBOS website and scooped a cache of awards, including a Scottish Design Award.

Digital Company

When Ross Laurie, MD of Line explained his departure from design association LongLunch this year he explained the reason was “Line going through the roof” and that he needed to concentrate on the business fulltime. He wasn’t wrong.

Named as Digital Agency of the Year at the inaugural DADI awards, along with picking up another three awards, Line is an agency that continues to impress clients and peers alike. This year the agency has bolstered its staff with several new senior hirings following appointments to work with Murray International Holdings, accountant firm Henderson Loggie, and Simplify Digital as well new work for existing clients such as Edinburgh International Film Festival, Aegon and BBC’s Top Gear.

Below-the-line Agency

Since being brought under the fold of The Cello Group alongside sibling Leith, Navigator has continued to grow its reputation, especially in the financial direct marketing sector.

2007 witness six new members join the team, giving the agency a staff total of 48, while managing director Yvonne Balfour took some time out at the end of the year to go on maternity leave, handing the keys to the empire to deputy managing director Julie Allan.

Over the year, Navigator has been appointed to work with Scottish Water New Business Stream to create its marketing strategy for next year, as well as Scottish Enterprise, Martime careers, Go Lower, Life Long Learning UK and the University of Edinburgh’s roster.

Printer

Rated as the top printer in Scotland by designers in The Drum’s Scottish Print Review, Summerhall began 2007 located in a new, bigger office and printing plant in Edinburgh.

With its chief local competitor Nimmo’s falling by the way-side during a troubling time for the print industry, Summerhall had to expand its headquarters to service increase demand. The new headquarters is, in fact, that of Nimmo’s which Summerhall now calls home.

In the last five years the company has grown significantly, employing over 100 members of staff, nearly four times as many as were employed in the first half of this decade, with around 50 new recruits since 2006.

Summerhall has also expanded its service offering to include many new specialisms to service its expanding client base, as well as looking to invest in new locations, including Glasgow and south of the border.

Market Research

Edinburgh-based research consultancy Scott Porter prides itself on upholding its core philosophy of ‘delivering research based solutions’ and not simply to deliver research information.

Led by managing director, Menekse Suphi, the consultancy aims to pass on insight and direction to its clients based on the research carried out, and looks to take the role of a consultancy to a new level, which has resulted in clients such as CALA Homes, Scotrail, CocaCola, Navy Blue and Visit Scotland employing its services.

ABERDEEN AND INVERNESS
Advertising or Integrated Agency

Over the course of the last year AVC has invested greatly in its offering. The Aberdeen-based agency – having already acquired rival Dundee firm Precision Media the previous year – started 2007 in a bullish mood purchasing Brand Advertising to form AVC Fairweather Brand Advertising, which achieved a £3m turnover in its first year.

In June the agency looked to enter the competitive Edinburgh advertising market with the opening of a new office in Leith.

Not happy to rest on its laurels, AVC just last month added a further string to its bow acquiring Aberdeen-based PR consultancy the PR Partnership to complete its fully integrated ambitions.

Now, still not content with recent developments, the company’s MD Spencer Buchan announced a £3m development of its Aberdeen headquarters.

PR Firm

Invernesshire-based Platform PR has continued to establish its name across Scotland in 2007. And the opening of a new Edinburgh base, through a merger with PR Squared, has played a big part in this. Its reputation, however, has been reinforced this year with the appointment of one of the best known and respected names in the PR industry in Scotland, Flora Martin. Martin, former boss of Citigate Smarts in Edinburgh, became chairman working alongside managing director Jane Cumming, who established the business in 2002. 


It’s been an impressive year for northern PR firms, though, with Aberdeen-based Tricker PR taking the top prize at this year’s CIPR Awards.

The PR agency was chosen as Scotland’s Outstanding Public Relations Consultancy at the event, winning in three categories: Not-for-Profit, Best Use of Media Relations and Best Use of Photography or Design.

Design Company 
It was late in last year when The Big Picture opened its Glasgow office. Having built a name in excellence through its Aberdeen studio, working with a raft of high profile clients across the UK and Europe, the agency decided to spread its wings with the launch of a new office. However the agency has invested in developing its business since, as well as its geographical reach. Brian Williams, a heavyweight of the Scottish advertising scene was brought in as a creative director. Since opening the office in Glasgow The Big Picture has won new business from Glasgow Warriors, Central Scotland Forest Trust, Quantum Claims, Atlantic Resourcing, University of Stirling and Hempel Yacht - Southern Europe. Five new members of staff have also been recruited to support the business and the team have managed to increase both turnover and profits throughout this period of investment.

Digital Agency

Cynosure certainly made its mark this year winning the contract to evolve the digital strategy for Aberdeen Journals - believed to be worth over six figures - amidst strong national competition from incumbent agency Aberdeen-based Covey McCormick as well as Navyblue and Leith Agency’s Blonde Digital. 


The firm adds both The Press and Journal and Aberdeen Evening Express publications to its impressive client list, which includes HBOS, University of Aberdeen, Samsung, Scottish Executive and Shell. Cynosure, was founded by Mark Jennings while he studied at university. However, the firm now has a team of 15, based in both Aberdeen and in Melbourne, Australia.

Printer
Nevis Print, a long-established Scottish printer providing a wide-range of print services to its customers (who range from graphic designers to local government) underwent a double management buyout last year, which saw new investment being pumped into the business.

Two leading print companies in the Highlands merged to create one of the largest such groups in Scotland. Highland Printers, based in Inverness, and Nevisprint in Fort William were acquired by a new company NBH Holdings. The move aimed to create a £6.5m turnover print group. Despite shedding around 25 jobs earlier this year after Highland Printers announced the closure of its Inverness operation, centralizing its business at the Nevis Print plant, the Fort William operation continues as one of the country’s biggest and best-respected printers.

Market Research

Highland Business Research founders Stephen Budd and Vicky Brock head-up the growing company based in Inverness.

Budd's experience includes six years with the London Stock Exchange, providing reports and research on new products, policy, pricing strategy and business markets, while Brock is international committee co-chair for the HYPERLINK "http://www.webanalyticsassociation.org/"Web Analytics Association and has provided web traffic analysis, web strategy advice and Internet based research for clients such as HP Europe and the UK Government.

From exploring the health of a specific market, assessing the feasibility of a project, to examining the way visitors use a website - HBR provides research in areas of tourism, customer insight and opinion, website measurement and analysis, marketing effectiveness and project evaluation.

Recently completed projects include work with The Scottish Government, HP.com, Scottish Water, Frame and George Wimpey, RE/MAX, Visitscotland, NHS and Highland Council.

Meanwhile, last month, as co-authors of the groundbreaking book Tips From The T-List, HBS attended the recent travel industry bloggers summit in Sweden.

DUNDEE AND PERTH

Advertising, Design or Integrated

In recent months Avian has been busy. It has been appointed by Highlands and Islands Enterprise and American golf clothing manufacturer Ashworth to create a raft of communications across brochures, packaging, POS and advertising, while The Water Industry Commission for Scotland appointed the agency to work on its website, highlighting the agencies breadth of expertise.

However, Avian has a wealth of history. It was formed following an MBO from the Ballgray Group – the group behind Scottish advertising giant of old Baillie Marshall – initially called Greenfinch. However, since then it has developed its offering, growing its specialisms as well as the client list that it services.

Avian recorded a nine percent increase in design turnover and over 12 percent design fee growth at he 2007 Scottish Design Review and also made the top ten of the Client Satisfaction Poll, working with clients that include HYPERLINK "http://www.avian.co.uk/clients_16.htm"Lloyds TSB Scotland, HYPERLINK "http://www.avian.co.uk/clients_4.htm"Scottish Waste Aware Group, HYPERLINK "http://www.avian.co.uk/clients_12.htm"Our Dynamic Earth, HYPERLINK "http://www.avian.co.uk/clients_1.htm"Keep Scotland Beautiful and HYPERLINK "http://www.avian.co.uk/clients_14.htm"WL Gore.

Digital Agency

Historically, HYPERLINK "http://www.interactivetayside.com/aboutus.cfm?page_ID=3"Tayside has always been a hot-bed of creative talent and the area has been renowned as a breeding ground for innovation and skills. Today, HYPERLINK "http://www.interactivetayside.com/aboutus.cfm?page_ID=3"Tayside continues to enjoy a vibrant and rapidly expanding cluster of businesses, organisations and individuals engaged in the digital media and creative industries sector. There are over 350 HYPERLINK "http://www.interactivetayside.com/directory_search.cfm"businesses operating in the area of digital media in Tayside, employing over 2,300 people and generating a combined annual turnover well in excess of £100m.

MediaCo grew from Media.co.uk, which was first established in London in 1996. Based in Dundee since August 1999, it retains offices in London and Edinburgh as well as business development personnel located in the Midlands. While it may be based in Dundee it operates across a wide range of sectors in the UK, Europe and US, and with a high profile client list including the Home Office, LEX, Sony, Vodafone, Reebok, Brother and Nestle.

PR Firm
Brian Baglow, founder and chief executive of Indoctrimat PR, obviously likes to keep himself busy. Having tapped into the thriving digital market in Dundee to offer PR to some of the city’s digital innovators, as well as working with other industry leaders further a field, Indoctrimat has carved a niche sector in PR, this year signing its 65th client as the consultancy celebrates its fifth year. As well as working with the likes of DC Studios, Denki, Namco and SawYou, Baglow also edits ScottishGames.biz and helped run the consumer side of the Edinburgh Interactive Festival in August.

Printer

Woods of Perth moved into purpose-built premises last year, reaffirming its commitment to environmental protection through innovations such as alcohol free printing, energy efficient lighting, low energy motors on its presses and increased levels of recycling.

However, ensuring that it continues to push on in an ever more difficult Scottish print industry, Woods has continued to invest in its plant and personnel this year too. Its latest investment being in workflow which includes online client portals, direct access to monitor job progress and online proofing and approval giving visibility of all jobs.

Since 2000, Woods has developed into one of the UK’s fastest growing print firms, yet it continues to innovate as the need of its customers change, maintaining a strong position in the print market.

OVERALL

MD of the Year (Ad)

Having seen the agency sweep the board with a huge haul at last year’s Scottish Advertising Awards, MD Ian McAteer will have been pleased with another successful year over at Union House.

Winning a place on the Clydesdale Bank roster, having previously sat on ‘a reserve roster’ proved the agency’s credentials were strengthening still, while working on the new account to promote the Seychelles to the world will no doubt have proved to be popular with staff.

The Union also been appointed to work on the VisitScotland consumer account while the agency’s adverts to promote Glasgow’s bid to host the 2014 Commonwealth Games were visually captivating and an integral part of the successful campaign.

McAteer himself is to take on the role of chairman of independent agency network Worldwide Partners in a move that he has said he hopes will benefit both The Union and Scotland as a whole.

MD of the Year (Design)

Having won Managing Director of the Year for the third consecutive year at 2007’s Scottish Design Review, Noe is already a well-respected figure across the UK design industry and the calibre of recruits that he has managed to attract pays testament to this. His company, Third Eye Design, is also continuing to gather a growing reputation and Noe seems to be steering a finely-tuned machine to worldwide success.

With Third Eye winning several categories at this years review including Consultancy of the Year and The Peer Poll, it was also consistently well placed in the categories that it didn’t win.

Added with that, the rapid growth of the agency’s London and New York offices and you have a company with truly global aspirations that still sees its roots very much in Scotland.

Already it’s looking good for Noe to make it four in a row next year.

Launch of the Year

It would be fair to say there were a few sceptics about the idea of another freesheet launching in Scotland, certainly if it was a business newspaper targeting executives, following the ultimate demise of business daily BusinessAM. But those sceptics were soon silenced when Business 7 hit at the start of September.

Published by Insider Media, the Business Publishing division of the Daily Record & the Sunday Mail, the paper is available on Friday mornings at key commuter points while its online site is updated on a daily basis.

The paper is edited by Jonathan Russell alongside Alasdair Northorp as editor in chief who also continues to edit of Insider Magazine, ensuring a close relationship between the titles.

Record Breaker

In a time where radio stations are struggling to retain the devotion of the listener due to the fragmentation the media and the rise of digital platforms, the final quarter of the year saw Real Radio achieve a landmark of 31 percent reach of its target market.

According to the latest audience research, the station now attracts a record 809,000 adult listeners each week – an increase of 73,000 year on year. The average listener now tunes in for 12.1 hours each per week providing the station with 9.8 million hours of listening per week.

For the first time Real Radio became Glasgow's most popular station attracting 568,000 adult listeners per week against Clyde 1 564,000. 
As a result The Drum was privy to Billy Anderson, the station’s MD, serenading his staff (after a few beverages) at the Rajar party in The Hallion. ‘Tear to a glass eye’ was the phrase that sprung immediately to mind.

Deal of the Year

It came a bit of a surprise to most in Scotland to hear that Story had been acquired by The Mission Group in a deal that could grow to be worth £13.5m to its founders.

The deal sees Sue Mullen continue to act as managing director, while staff at the agency received shares in the company. 
The Mission Group acquired the entire issued share capital of the agency, which was launched five years ago by Sue and Dave Mullen, for an initial consideration of £6.9m consisting of initial cash/loan notes to the value of £4.1m and a further £2.1m which will be paid through the issue of 2,060,485 new ordinary shares in The Mission. 
There is also the possibility that should the agency reach set pre-tax profit criteria, a further payment of up to £6.4m would be due in March 2011.

The buyout was one of the most positive pieces of news in what has proven for some to be a difficult year for Scottish agencies.

Industry Stalwarts

Building up a company with the stature of Feather Brooksbank has taken both Giles Brooksbank and Stuart Feather on a journey that few who embark on setting up their own companies can dream of. 2008 will no doubt prove to be another strong year for the media business, despite missing out on the coveted Scottish Executive Media account to chief rivals Mediacom at the end of 2007.

The pair formed Feather Brooksbank in 1991 with a capital investment of only £3,000 each, which in this day and age almost seems unthinkable.

That their knowledge of media and obvious entrepreneurial skills has been a factor in the building of a successful UK-wide business from such small beginning is a testament to them both.

This year, they were awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 21st Scottish Anniversary Awards, which was incredibly well received by the industry and worthier winners would have been hard to find on such an occasion.

City

The city of Glasgow had a year to remember in 2007. Not content with being voted the second best city to visit in the UK – the best in Scotland – Glasgow increased its international profile hosting the showcase UEFA Cup final between Sevilla and Espanyol in May. While the rain did its best to dampen the spirits, the football extravaganza was deemed a huge success.

The once maligned and misunderstood Glasgow: Scotland with style (created by the Maguire Consortium) looks now to have struck the right cord, as visitor numbers to the city continue to rise.

The city continues to push the creative boundaries forward too, playing its part in the Six Cities Design Festival, as well as nurturing a raft of cutting edge agencies in the creative fields.

Last, but certainly not least, the City also secured the Commonwealth Games for 2014 after a monumental campaign, which utilised some of Scotland’s top marketing talent.

Account Win

The pitch was long-running. The decision date was pushed back. But in the end, the most highly sought after media account from Scotland – for the Scottish Government – was appointed to incumbent agency Mediacom Scotland. Many had tipped rivals and one-time account holder, Feather Brooksbank to win the business back following the final pitches. However, Mediacom showed that it could offer a service and price more than worthy of the account, which is worth up to £60m over three and a half years. 


Bravest Client

Bravery pays off. GRP’s Be Books for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde – a “pastiche” of the Ladybird books of old, giving school kids a startlingly frank look at sex education – not only won the Grand Prix Prize at the Roses Advertising Awards, and a prize at the Design Awards, it also scooped a coveted D&AD pencil. One of just 30 Pencil awards handed out from over 26,000 entries. And the only Pencil Award given to a Scottish agency this year.

Bravest Descision

Having appointed a new marketing director – former director at media specialists Feather Brooksbank, Ann Gibb – Reid Furniture decided to bring its creative account in-house, assembling a creative team to work on the high-volume job… But not before holding a review which saw some of the UK’s top advertising houses pitch for the work. Needless to say, the decision to move the work in-house was not a popular one among the creative agencies. However, could it be a trend that others follow?

World domination

Following its £50m merger deal with Global Media at the tail end of last year, Edinburgh-based Bigmouthmedia is on course to conquer the world, on all accounts. Already with offices in London and New York, the Bigmouth name spread quickly. First Norway and Sweden became Bigmouthed, then France, Germany and Italy too. The deal also saw plans formulated to launch in Dubai. And South Korea looks like it might be the next to embrace the Bigmouthmedia brand. First Scotland, then the world - a global success story from our own backyard.

Best offices

What does your office say about you? In this industry, creating a good impression is important. So having a suitable workspace is something that many agencies aspire to. But it’s not just about creativing the right impression… creating the right environment for staff is just as important too. Over recent months a number of agencies have upped roots, moving to new office locations. Some custom built, others inherited. Some funky. Some professional. (And some both.) Good Creative, Dog Digital, Three Brand (to a barge on the water of Leith) and TicToc are just a few.

However, from all the offices visited by The Drum team in the last 12 months (the new ones, at least) there are few that can compete with the mixture of style, function as well as good old Glasgow grit exhibited by D8’s studio.

Experiential Company

Kommando has been ploughing its own furrows for a number of years now, bringing to life what others might only dream about. The Glasgow-based agency’s mix of guerrilla marketing, ambient media, live and support marketing has caught the eye of some of the biggest brands, including Puma, Superdrug, Toyota, BBC, WKD, MTV and 3.

The team also delivers the cutting-edge ambient solutions, including the Pixman screen technology and the seen-about-town Skoota Media.

The agency’s profile has been building, working with a number of the UK’s top advertising agencies this year, deploying campaigns for their clients. Meanwhile the hard work paid off for Kommando when it was awarded the title of Most Innovative Experiential Campaign at the 2007 Brand Experience Awards for Iveco.

Arrivals

This year saw a raft of senior appointments as agencies jostled for position, with Elmwood, 999 and Harrison Cowely amongst a handful of agencies to bring in new MDs. Elsewhere at 1576 it was out with the old and in with the new as a fresh team was built, including the arrival of Pete Bastiman while Frame saw a host of new faces too, including Gary O’Donnell and David Aylesbury. Third Eye was also on the appointment trail bringing in Jo Burrin and Hector Pottie, amongst others, while the biggest appointment of the year might have been that of Roger Goldie joining the Scottish Executive as its chief marketing manager, to replace Chris Dempsey.

Departures

Like the arrivals, the departure gate has been hectic too. Chris Dempsey left the Executive, David Miller left Frame. Mark Stephenson left Stand to join client Sand Storm, while Tony Harding departed Feather Brooksbank. Meanwhile, Arc Worlwide announced that it was leaving Scotland altogether.

Perhaps the biggest shock, though, was the departures from 1576. Kenneth Fowler, Ruth Lees and Gary Smith all deciding to leave the agency, along with others. However, the biggest announcement came from Adrian Jeffery, creative director and co-founder of the agency, as he left to launch Mighty Small.

Best Agency Website

Ah, what did we say last year? “Agency websites can be like cobblers’ children. Often they preach about the importance of communication while neglecting their own.”

Well, we might add to that that they are also like cobblers’ children because it is not often that they are replaced. Fortunately last year’s winner of this award took this to heart and replaced their site with a shiny new one. And it is even better than before. Check out the showreel. www.good-creative.com.

10 COMPANIES TO WATCH IN 2008

999 – New managing director, new look, new energy. What will we see from the Scottish design giants next year?

Fifth Ring – Are overseas expansions set to continue from its Aberdeen base in 2008?


Hookson – Hookson has bolstered its team. These appointments might take some by surprise, though, coming from advertising and below-the-line backgrounds. Watch out for the agency competing on a wider playing field in coming months.

Pointsize Wolffe & Co – Andrew Wolffe looks set to make his mark in Glasgow having built a strong reputation from his original Borders-base at Wolffe & Co. Having acquired Pointsize this year, this success looks set to continue.

Open – Liz O’Connor’s agency, with backing of the All About Brands Group, will be one to watch.

Tayburn – MBO completed, a big push is expected. Look out for growth in Manchester as the team continues to build its reputation.


Mighty Small – Wee team. Big reputation.

Barkers – Social marketing push looks set to pay off.

2Fluid – Founder Jackie Doherty returned from time in Barcelona with a new focus for the 2Fluid team. Look out for new offices in Glasgow’s Merchant City – formerly owned by Architects Page and Park.

The Hub – The appointment of former Third Eye Design creative director Kenny Allan was a coup for the agency. He is reunited with former Third Eye new business boss Victor Brierley at The Hub.