Craig McGill

Not what I mean My Good Ogilvy. Many large firms have offices in each of the main European countries for local outreach, PR, etc so if Scotland was to go solo from the rest of the UK, there's a possibility that we may see some firms have offices in London to cover England and some offices in Scotland for the independent Scotland.

Gordon, you've totally nailed it. As always there will be people who disagree but one of the main issues is that (for PR) a lot of the access is seen as happening via London for magazines, etc and there's a total lack of home-grown effort. Would Independence change this? Would we see more brands set up Scottish offices in the way that large firms have Spanish, French, Italian offices?

What are they ranking in? General search? News?

Jonathan, I think you're being way too hard on the Scotsman app - and I was hardly glowing in my references of it in my review over at bit.ly/scotsman-ipad - as I think the team have done quite a decent job.

There's always a couple of things you need to consider when looking at an app like this:

1) What was the budget? While it was substantial, I'll bet it wasn't huge. And more to the point, the app is only the start, it needs to be updated daily with fresh content and to add more than the pictures used in the print version (i.e. - video or more pics or even audio) is a staff resource that, quite frankly, I'm willing to bet The Scotsman doesn't have. Many reporters are still reluctant (for some good reasons and for some bad reasons) to do more than a new story in text. Hell, most PR companies in Scotland do little more than provide text still.

2) Consider the audience. Younger audiences have very little brand loyalty, so The Scotsman is (probably) aiming more towards the 30somethings and upwards. So to offer something that's quite traditional in appearance gives the reader the reassurance of what they are getting. It's toe-dipping instead of throwing them in at the deep end.

(As an aside, I would also point out that the traditional newspaper page is one of the most successful designs ever when it comes to imparting information. There's a reason so many newspapers look similar. Within seconds you can have a rough idea of about 15 stories, some of which are linked and some of which are not - can't do that on a webpage with just one tale)

3) You talk of consider The Scotsman's competitors. In a global marketplace, yes, the likes of the NY Times and so on are doing more - with completely different staffing levels and budgets. In Scotland - the core market for The Scotsman's ongoing success - there are no other apps. Hell, it's a struggle to even get digital papers of many of their Scottish counterparts. Most don't even have digital teams.

Just my two pence. YMMV.

Oh, good point. This also impacts social media then - and I've blogged about that at - http://www.contently-managed.com/blog/2011/09/30/will-foursquare-social-...