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Emerging Edinburgh – New Media

By The Drum, Administrator

January 31, 2003 | 4 min read

Website work for HEBS by Revolver.

Revolver

For MD Allen Bell, the new media end of the business is slowly beginning to take over the design side. “During the middle of 2002 it seemedd all our clients were looking for print design, but toward the end of the year that started to change and I’d say that around 90 per cent of our work now is in new media.”

With clients such as HEBS and the Scottish Executive, Revolver is busy, says Bell. The company is now looking at other areas of work, including looking into application development. “We are developing the new media side of the business through application work. At the end of the day, clients are looking for a bit more, something extra, and we can provide that by showing clients new programming.”

Whilst Bell maintains that the company will be expanding, he doesn’t think it will be rapid. “We currently employ ten people. We will expand, but it won’t be a fast expansion. I like to have staff that we can train up and keep for the long term, Luckily, I have never had to make any redundancies and I think I would like to keep it that way. We are busy at the moment, but I am sure the time will come for expansion.”

Lewis Multimedia

Ray Lewis founded Lewis Design over 30 years ago. But, with the demand for new media leading the way, the company became Lewis Multimedia six years ago. The expansion appears to have been flawless. “In the early years many prospective clients dismissed the marketing approach and opted for a package that had no strategy, little or no design, but was full of technology and was cheap,” admits new media director Alan Hepburn.

The company aims to offer both services and, as such, this has meant that both companies now operate from the same offices in Leith. The company now employs 12 people and counts Russell Europe and Glenmuir on their books. But times are changing and the process of finding new clients has changed too, admits Hepburn. “The new media industry now finds itself in the same jungle as paper-based marketing solutions – the unpaid pitch. Whilst credentials are certainly important, the look, feel, ‘does it work?’ factor are still king.”

Storm ID

Leaving such an established company as Tayburn and starting up on your own can be daunting, but the four directors at Storm ID are more than glad that they did it.

Director Paul McGuinness admits that, whilst it has been tough, their client list, which includes the Royal Bank of Scotland, Scottish Executive and Scottish Widows, has made it worth it. “Our aim is to provide clients with strategy technology and creativity. We take a very simple approach to the projects, and clients react very positively to that process.”

McGuinness believes that the key to their success has been developing a reputation that clients can trust and will come back to. “We didn’t have any clients when we left Tayburn. But what we managed to do was develop a number of websites and establish our own reputation in the marketplace. As a result we have managed to win new clients and work on some high-profile accounts. We each have different skills that complement each other and that is a key to our success.”

Bigmouthmedia

Search engine marketing company BigMouthMedia launched their Brand Intelligence side of the business last year and have seen a significant uptake from clients. The 18-strong company, which has offices in Edinburgh, London and Madrid is headed up by Steve Leach, and aims to help clients deal with damage limitation on the web.

“If there is negative commentary about a company or a member of it staff, or the brand itself, we try to clear up as much as we can,” says Leach

The company also offers a range of services including search engine optimisation, pay per click management and web design. Their clients include Interflora, Cadbury and Visit Scotland. “People are becoming more and more aware of the web and the various difficulties they might have. We not only highlight their problems, but deal with them too.”

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