Circle of friends has PR industry in a spin

Published on Thursday 4 September 2003 01:00

SPIN doctoring has hit the headlines recently, though for all the wrong reasons.

Which beggars the question - why choose a profession apparently reviled by the public and media alike?

That answer may be tricky to pin down, but there can be no denying the burgeoning numbers looking to enter the cut-throat world of public relations.

Communications degrees are among the most over-subscribed courses in the country, and Scotland possesses more than its fair share of PR agencies and media relations officers, even if the majority are not as well known as a certain Mr Campbell.

PR has become a flourishing industry in its own right, employing an estimated 55,000 practitioners throughout the UK, with a number of firms claiming to punch well above their weight.

If you happen to be a commercial organisation looking to raise your profile, the world is most definitely your oyster.

Celebrating its fifth birthday, Great Circle is a small Edinburgh-based communications specialist that has striven to take a fresh approach to the world of corporate spin.

For a start, its two founders - Rachel Jones and business partner Michael Groves - brought little of the baggage normally associated with the industry with them, though a lack of inherited clients weighed on the bottom line in the early days, admits Ms Jones.

"Cash flow was always a problem back then," she says. "We started Great Circle from a back bedroom in Marchmont but didn’t really have any clients.

"Mike had been working in Indonesia and I’d been based in Auckland in New Zealand, where we eventually ended up working together. The business plan for Great Circle was actually written in a pub in Auckland, but when we returned to Scotland we effectively started out from scratch."

She adds: "Lots of other agencies are created when people leave established businesses and take contacts and clients with them. We had absolutely nothing, but wanted to do the kind of things we would like to have done when we worked for other people."

In five short years, the firm has outgrown two offices and now employs six people full-time. Its latest set of accounts show annual fee income topping the 230,000 mark - a jump of about 25 per cent on the year before.

This summer, Great Circle’s efforts were formally recognised at the Scottish Institute of Public Relations awards, where it took bronze in the best small consultancy category. The silver and gold accolades both went to Glasgow-based rivals.

Not only did the IPR cast an eye over individual campaigns, the organisation also examined how well the contenders were run as businesses in their own right.

"It’s fantastic to get any prize at all, but it’s particularly satisfying to have the actual business model recognised," remarks Ms Jones.

"This is a completely people-orientated industry, and we try to do slightly off-beat things as well. The firm recently encouraged clients to participate in a wear a hat to work event in aid of charity.

"And all of the staff here have hats that we keep on our desks for quieter moments - when you don’t want to be interrupted, you simply don your hat."

As companies vie to get their messages across to an increasingly sophisticated public, commercial PR has taken on a fiercely competitive edge.

Ms Jones claims it’s very much a case nowadays of "surviving by your results", in an industry composed of a number of global heavyweights, such as Incepta and Weber Shandwick, and hundreds of smaller and often more-focused players.

"When we set up five years ago there were probably about 40 or 50 one- and two-man bands in Scotland. If you survive by your results, and start making a name for yourself, people will talk about you.

"We land almost all of our new work through word of mouth."

As a fully-fledged member of the Capital’s PR pack, Great Circle has made its mark in a broad range of sectors.

Current clients include the National Trust for Scotland, MX Alliance (the mobile applications consortium), Edinburgh-based web specialist edNET,and the Futurist Cinema group. In the past, it has undertaken work for Edinburgh’s Royal Botanic Garden, Budget Rent A Car’s City Car Club scheme, and Marks & Spencer’s breast cancer awareness campaign.

The firm has stuck in the main to private sector work and purposely steered clear of public affairs. "We try to keep our nose clean," jokes Ms Jones.

Unlike many of its peers, who have a tendency to cherry-pick from the local pool of graduates, or poach staff from rival agencies, Great Circle has adopted a singular approach to recruitment.

"We only employ people who have travelled and worked outside of Edinburgh," stresses Ms Jones. "We reckon that type of person has experienced a bit more of life - travel broadens the mind immensely.

"It’s imperative to us that we don’t just recruit people who have come straight out of college and not done anything or been anywhere."

To date, everybody coming on board has moved north to join the firm, from as far afield as London, Cardiff and even New Zealand.

Back in 1998, the fledgling firm found itself exploiting Mr Groves’ background in environmental management, although, with hindsight, it confesses to being somewhat ahead of the game.

Ms Jones explains: "Mike was an environmental management consultant in Indonesia. That gave us an edge as nobody was really covering that area in Scotland at the time.

"However, looking back, we were probably a little premature. People were telling us the environment wasn’t that important an issue, and those interested in these type of issues were still tainted by the socks and sandals image.

"Of course, now it’s a headline issue."

One of the practice’s first jobs was for mapping giant Bartholomew, sparking a four-year-long relationship.

At the time, the company was looking to market its digital map data, and Great Circle was engaged to undertake a research project to see how the company would stack up against competitors such as the AA and Ordnance Survey.

Ms Jones describes the period as an "incredibly exciting time" for the nascent PR outfit, and says it led to work on the international launch of the Times Comprehensive Atlas of the World, published by Bartholomew’s parent HarperCollins.

"That launch came to Scotland which was unusual for a London-based group," notes Ms Jones.

One thing Great Circle has been keen to avoid is putting all its eggs in one basket.

"We have an even spread of clients, which is better than having everybody working on one big job.

"If that client disappears or there’s some other drama, you are left with a gaping hole to fill. It’s a scenario we have been careful to avoid."

A way with words

FOR the first 18 months of its existence, Great Circle operated out of a spare bedroom in a house in Marchmont.

These days, the business - which can boast an annual fee income close to 250,000 - is based in somewhat plusher accommodation in the Capital’s Doune Terrace, following a two-year spell in nearby George Street.

Co-founder Rachel Jones says the firm cannot grow much further in its present office.

"We are very busy, so I guess growth is definitely in our sights, though probably not for at least a year or two."

Recently, however, the PR firm has been forced to eke out just a little more space. To mark its fifth birthday, Great Circle is hosting a poet in residence - or rather two poets in residence, including local wordsmith Elspeth Murray - with support from Arts & Business.

"We work with words for a living," explains Ms Jones, "so we thought we should do something that recognises that and celebrates our fifth year in business."

Ms Murray’s ode to Great Circle includes the following description of its HQ: "Graceful turquoise discs adorning the wall, generous silver bowl on the square-faced bookcase, fine lips of the mugs on the kitchen mug rack."