Scottish Marketing Association

So far the website contains background information on the SMA’s aims and objectives and also the details of the 30 Scottish marketing services agencies that have put petty rivalries aside and joined together to campaign for the greater good of the Scottish marketing and communications industry.

SMA members were updated on all SMA initiatives at the latest meeting which took place in mid-June at the Edinburgh offices of Elmwood.

Present at the meeting, chaired by Graeme Atha, the SMA’s chairman, and co-founder Gordon Young, were Michelle Mitchell of BD-NTWK, Fiona Laurie of Blue Chip Marketing, Roslynd McLean of Colours Management, Nick Ramshaw of Elmwood, Moyra Harvey of Jump Marketing, Alan Hepburn of Lewis Creative Consultants, Emma Marsh of Marsh Data Engineering, Yvonne Balfour of Navigator Responsive Advertising, Ilya Scott of Real PR, Robyn Glynne-Percy of Profile Plus, Richard Irvine of Redpath, John Campbell of Spideronline, David McCusker of Tuna and Sonia Mallan of 1576.

After being updated on the development of the website, members were also informed that the SMA had had a significant presence at the recent Electronics Scotland conference that took place at Gleneagles. The conference was a major event for the electronics industry in Scotland and Emma Marsh and David McCusker had taken the opportunity to represent the interests of the SMA and what Scottish marketing agencies have to offer to major players in the electronics sector such as Sun Microsystems, Oracle, Hewlett Packard, Nokia and others.

An SMA exhibition stand, designed by Third Eye Design, was on show at the conference, which was attended by first minister Jack McConnell and the conference’s chairman Sir John Ward of Scottish Enterprise said that the electronics sector should be looking to work together with Scotland’s marketing communications sector in the future.

Both Marsh and McCusker see the electronics sector as one which Scottish marketing services agencies should be increasingly targeting as a source of new business, and further initiatives are being planned by the SMA to ensure that this focus is not lost.

Also at the meeting members were given the opportunity to offers their thoughts on how the SMA should go about getting its various messages across to the many audiences that it is targeted at.

A PR and communications brief, the result of a previous meeting of Ilya Scott of Real PR, Robin Glynne-Percy of Profile Plus and Richard Draycott of The Drum, was outlined to the members present and a number of key audiences/sectors were identified that the SMA should be speaking directly to on a regular basis.

The conclusion of Scott and Glynne-Percy was that the SMA needs to raise its profile within the business and general media in order for the SMA to become the voice of the Scottish marketing industry and the first port of call for any journalists looking for expert commentary and analysis. A number of initiatives are in the pipeline to help establish this position.

Finally, Gordon Young outlined the SMA’s growing relationship with Media Polska, the Polish version of The Drum, and the possibility of having an explorative mission with other SMA members to Poland and meet Polish clients. Another meeting with Media Polska is planned to take place in Scotland to look at the logistics of such a trade mission taking place at some point next year.

Also, it was confirmed that the Iceland Forum will be taking place again in November, offering all agencies the opportunity to attend a three-day facilitated networking event in Iceland during which they can meet a wide range of clients.

Details of an exhibition being held at the Lloyds TSB Scotland building on George Street in Edinburgh in August, which will coincide with the Edinburgh Festival, were also discussed and more details of that SMA event will be announced closer to the time.

The next meeting of the SMA is scheduled to take place on Tuesday 16 August in Glasgow.