Weekly Wrap: Richard Marsham - managing partner of The Leith Agency

So what is there to be optimistic about? Well for one I still think there's an unbelievable talent pool available in Scotland and if we've still got good people, then we've still got a chance of getting through the current hard times. Certainly in our own agency, I can never remember a better depth of talent across the company. And nice people too. And I know enough about the other agencies to know that they have their fair share of talent as well. As far as I’m concerned ‘creative Scotland’ in its widest sense is still very much alive and well.

And for those that decide to leave us for the brighter lights of London, let’s celebrate their success in getting into some great agencies and furthering themselves rather than criticising them for turning their backs on Scotland.

Secondly, and very importantly in the current climate, we have a very active public sector up here across all of the marketing disciplines. Whilst some find it fashionable to criticise the tendering process, where would we all be without the large the amount of spend that the public sector is investing in various agencies across Scotland? It’s also a sector that feels like it’s evolving quite quickly and rightly pushing us more and more to produce much more imaginative work across all the media channels.

Thirdly, most of us have made a very proactive decision to make our careers in Scotland rather than head down to London and we shouldn't forget why we did that and the benefits that come with it. I'm currently looking out of my window onto the Water of Leith watching some swans swim by – hard to put a value on that. We've seen good times and bad times, but I'd still rather be here than anywhere else.

Fourthly, it's Friday tomorrow – always a reason to smile.

And finally, least I forget, it’s our Summer party today and a well deserved opportunity for everyone to forget work and have some fun. Time for me to don my blazer and cricket whites and head off for a cold beer.