28/04/2008

For the second year in a row, the same Scottish PR agency has been named the largest operating out of London.

The BIG Partnership has again received the accolade, in magazine, PR Week’s annual Top 150 PR consultancies survey.
 
The agency - which has offices in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Fife - was also named the sixth largest independent PR group in the UK.
 
The agency recorded fee income last year of £6.4 million, a 22 per cent increase over the previous year’s turnover of £5.3 million.
 
BIG employs 90 staff and has more than 160 retained clients.
 
The agency’s client list includes The Famous Grouse, Macallan and Highland Park whiskies, Clydesdale Bank, Barclays, Gladedale Homes, Deloitte, Dundas & Wilson, KPMG, Aker Kvaerner, The Craig Group, Coors-Carling, Celtic Football Club, Aberdeen Football Club, Clean Glasgow, Transport Scotland and Careers Scotland.

Elsewhere, James Donaldson, production editor of the Evening Express, Aberdeen, is joining PR consultants, Weber Shandwick, as a senior account manager at its
Aberdeen office.

Donaldson, whose father, Noel, is a well-known Caithness newsman, has spent 17 years in journalism, began his career at the Evening Express as a news reporter and then had stints  at Glasgow evening and daily newspapers, before returning to the Evening Express seven years ago, as deputy chief sub-editor, and, subsequently, production editor.

On a cheekier note, The Scotsman’s Alba diarist reports that  Scotland’s GPs, worried about their image, are seeking to hire a  PR company to campaign ‘to restore patient faith in their GPs’.

The diarist comments: “Alba’s experience of PR people suggests this won’t help much, as many Gemmas and Pippas in the sector think GPs is what tells you where to drive your car.”

* Send your Scottish media news and gossip, in the strictest confidence, to  info@allmediascotland.com