Interview: Lucy Bird, Chief executive of Marketing Edinburgh

Most of us would have arrived, bed-head hair, yesterday's clothes and handbag lying somewhere on the kitchen table, just in time to see the train doors shut and the conductor wave bye-bye.

Yet she's sharp in her smart black shift dress and killer heels adorned with silver studs. Her blonde hair is sleek, her silver jewellery suitably chic and chunky and all she's really fretting about is that she's left her comfortable trainers at home.

"I love walking in Edinburgh," she explains. "I bring my trainers to work and go for a walk. It's a great way to see the city. I wish someone would design a nice trainers' bag that I could carry them in - I'd buy that."

And so she laughs off the horrors of the morning's 90-minute commute to her office overlooking Charlotte Square. Warm and friendly - she pours out the coffee and frets it might be too weak - she certainly lives up to the billing she's received from close associates who speak of a woman who's already inspired and enthused those around her with her infectious delight in her new role, her positive "can do" attitude and downright fresh outlook on a city jaded by what feels like one chaotic botch up after another.

Just as well she's organised, slick, likeable and driven. After all, this is the woman with the biggest sales job in town - marketing Edinburgh to the world.

It's just two months since she took up her 100,000 post as chief executive of newly formed Marketing Edinburgh.

Initially funded largely by the city council to the tune of around 3 million with a staff of around 20, the new organisation combines conference organisation Edinburgh Convention Bureau with Edinburgh Film Focus - whose role is to help attract filmmakers to the city - and Destination Edinburgh Marketing Alliance, which was launched four years ago to enhance the Capital's reputation as a desirable destination.

Now pulling together under this single heading, it's up to the new boss in the scary shoes to drive it all forward and pitch Edinburgh, the brand, to potential buyers - tourists, investors, filmmakers and businesses, future employees and students - around the planet.

Big things are expected of Lucy Bird. Which begs the question of what she might deliver.

Naturally with just a few weeks in the job under her belt, the mother of two grown-up sons readily admits she's still finding her feet.Indeed, in what could easily set alarm bells ringing for some, she makes no bones about the fact that the city she is to sell around the world is rather unchartered and quite unfamiliar territory.

Yet hitting the ground not so much running as delicately stepping out in those killer shoes is, she believes, an advantage. "The good thing is because I know nothing and know nobody here, that I'm taking a very fresh approach to partnerships in particular," she insists. "I'm taking the first few weeks getting to know everyone.

"I can look at Edinburgh in a way that's very different and I don't carry that baggage that some people who have been here for a long time might."

"For example, the trams," she adds. "I think that Edinburgh internally perceives the trams as being a far greater problem than people externally view them. I think the trams will be a great feature for the city. Sometimes you have to live through it and get to the other side."

Some might expect something more solid from two months of that salary in the bank, but the 52-year-old marketeer's sensible approach is steadfast and sure. Her upbeat ethos is that she'd rather take time to understand the task of how best to package Edinburgh and how to secure vital funding for Marketing Edinburgh from the private sector, before throwing around lavish ideas and rash promises.

It does mean we're no clearer on whether a bed tax might be part of the plan to help raise money from tourists to help fund the organisation or whether there's even money sloshing around in a tightly squeezed private sector to plough into it. That won't become clear until she's pulled together a new business plan, expected some time next month.

Yet what she can see already is the enormous untapped potential in a city that could well punch stronger and more successfully with a clearer and more coherent strategy to sell its name around the world. The spin-off for us all could well be a shot in the arm of the local economy - from small bed and breakfast owners whose bookings rise on the back of a tourism boost to the already bustling business conference sector.

"I can see what a great product I've got here," she says enthusiastically. "The vision that is behind the creation of Marketing Edinburgh is that the city is one coherent voice and projects its image coherently.

"Live, work, study, invest, visit," she adds, quoting the mantra that underpins Marketing Edinburgh's strategy.

Launched in April, six months after city councillors gave their backing to the creation of a single promotional body, Marketing Edinburgh is, she believes, unique in Europe.

"What we have in the mix is Edinburgh Convention Bureau that has been focusing on the business tourism, bringing conferences and meetings to the city. There are benefits for the economy from that business tourism sector."We also have a really interesting element, which as far as I'm aware is the only destination marketing organisation in Europe that has the film office.

"Most cities have a film office, Edinburgh has had a particularly effective but very small office for a number of years. Now it's part of Marketing Edinburgh and in my view that's a really interesting element of what we have here."

Certainly Edinburgh's profile on the silver screen is about to be raised globally with the release of One Day, the movie adaptation of David Nicholls' 2009 bestseller, starring Anne Hathaway. That follows the BBC's Case Histories mini-series taken from Kate Atkinson's novels and largely filmed in the city. And in September, Edinburgh will be back at the cinema when Irvine Welsh's novel Ecstasy - although largely shot in Canada it does feature Edinburgh exterior shots - is released.

If all that doesn't plant the city's aesthetic qualities in the minds of viewers, there's always the Edinburgh Inspiring Capital logo emblazoned on the sails of a yacht currently making its way from port to port in the Clipper Round the World Race.

Authors write about Edinburgh, filmmakers use its skyline and on a busy August day when the sun is shining, tourists pack the streets and it's hard to picture a more vibrant, architecturally and naturally stunning amphitheatre for an arts festival. Which could lead some to wonder why a city of Edinburgh's calibre even needs someone to sell it around the world.

Surely no need to bundle it up in clever marketing jargon, slap on a buzz word slogan and set up a website that promises to "facilitate its promotion" with "outward facing activity".

"When you have a city that has as much to offer in terms of its visual impact, then people are always going to want to come here," says Lucy. "But this is to ensure the city has a network that works in partnership, all pulling together."

She's arrived in town from Gateshead after 11 successful years promoting the Sage Gateshead music centre, and is still commuting from the north east while waiting for the New Town flat bought years ago for her son to use at university to be renovated.

She took the Sage from its launch to a 17m a year turnover, far higher than the 8m initially anticipated. Its success led to her being credited with helping to spearhead the regeneration of the Gateshead Quays area, which is also home to the Baltic Centre and the Millennium Bridge.

Prior to that she's worked in television production and events planning.

"In the past I've been more a visitor to Edinburgh than a resident. But that means I'm coming here with fresh eyes," she insists. "And Edinburgh is perfect. The festival is right up my street - I'm a culture vulture. Theatre, dance, literature, the lot. I love fashion - vintage fashion - and that's all here too and the outdoors, I'm in the right place for that too."