In the cold light of day Scottish independence is a non-starter – it makes no sense economically, socially or politically. But, start to focus the message on the romanticism, the heritage, the suppressed culture, the oppressed peoples, the independent spirit and the national fervour and the case starts to become compelling. It’s a cliché to refer back to Braveheart but, even after all these years, those three hours of film have done more for the independence campaign than any other initiative – because the message is simple and seductive.

Fortunately for the Union there are several months to go to win the status quo argument – but those Unionists face an uphill task if the full force of the seductive independence message is unleashed. Salmond will use every trick in the book – including launching his campaign on Burns Night.

As MD of a successful Kent-based agency, I can honestly say: “no”. While it is true that the vast majority of the national press congregate in and around the London Boroughs (with 51% of the PR industry joining them), this doesn’t mean that success is limited to the nation’s capital. Yes, it might be true that regional-based PROs need to work harder to build relationships with London based institutions, nevertheless for those ‘regional agencies’ which manage to achieve it, surely this only further identifies their expertise in the industry?  

With 70% of the agency’s revenue generated from out of London clients, Quantum is by no means ‘regional’. As a communications specialist in niche areas such as planning, recycling, waste management and energy, Quantum is an agency which works nationally.

Not being in London has never been, and will never be, a barrier to the success of Quantum and this is because those companies that require our specialist expertise are not limited to London either. Instead, our agency’s success has been reliant upon a reputation of excellence, rather than location. And, it is this firm foundation that has secured us contracts with major businesses such as a US waste management company in the West Midlands, a multi-national Swedish manufacturer with a head office in Edinburgh and a premier recycler located in Leicester.
Nevertheless, London is still easily accessible to us and with improved transport links we now have the best of both worlds. With the introduction of things such as the HS1, non-London agencies can still maintain that competitive edge by being situated only 38min from the city. Not bad considering it would probably take half an hour to travel from Highstreet Kensington to Old Street during rush hour.
Furthermore, our affordable out-of-town location has meant we can offer best value for money for our clients, another key factor for success during recent times of austerity. Similarly, being out of London means my staff aren’t plagued with rising public transport costs or over-priced coffee shops, but instead have free parking and we’re close to the beach – perfect for staff away days! Compare that to London agencies – where productivity and efficiency is often reduced due to a large proportion of the team travelling long distances into the city – it’s a no brainer surely?

Of course crises happen, and however well prepared you are they will impact on reputation. The trick the IMF has so far missed is to immediately fill the vacuum, and put forward its next most senior member of staff to reiterate (again and again) that it’s business as usual to stop the speculation about the wider organisation.

As we always advise our clients – you are what you are, do not pretend to be someone different, especially if you are in the public eye and in the media. By pretending to be someone different it will come over as unnatural and you will inevitably be found out. So our advice to the PM is to get the morning suit dry cleaned, and brush off the top hat while you’re at it!

The traditional ‘beauty parade’, where three, four or five agencies are invited in on a given day and allocated an hour to present has its merits, but also a lot of drawbacks.

The PRCA estimates that the average agency spends an average of 20 hours on each pitch. An average client will spend approximately 10 hours sitting through the pitch process and then regrouping to make a decision. Surely it would be better for the client to initially ask for credentials documents and from those select two agencies to invite in for half a day each to sit down, get to know each other and discuss the recommended approach to take. A decision made following a meeting such as this will be far more astute than a decision based on a 30 minute pre-prepared presentation and 30 minutes of questions. Plus, knowing that there is a 50/50 chance of winning, the agency will feel far more comfortable about investing the time to really research the client.

But for now pitches remain the most popular form of choosing agencies and winning new business – and from that point of view long may they continue!

The survey results provide a state of the nation snapshot of the cost and effectiveness of council publications. The survey is intended to help councils compare the costs of their newspapers and magazines and asked councils for comments about the likely effect of the cuts.

110 councils responded to the survey. The most common response was that budget cuts to council communications would lead to a reduction in the number of yearly publications, and a weakening of community participation and council’s engagement with their constituents.

However, while some councils felt that newspapers represent good value for money, other respondents interpreted the changes as an opportunity to develop other communication methods, such as using social media.

The survey, which is the sixth of its kind, was conducted by Quantum PR supported by Alan Pickstock Associates and the Local Government Information Unit. The full survey can be found at www.quantumpr.co.uk/benchmarkingsurveyresults

Quantum is running two workshops,  entitled “Putting the Publicity Code into Practice” on 13th and 19th April 2011, to help local authorities consider the impact of the Publicity Code in light of current practices.

• Communities and Local Government Committee
• Report: Proposed Code of Recommended Practice on Local Authority Publicity

Quantum is going to be working on LionAid’s behalf to target national media outlets and promote the organisation’s profile and objectives. I can’t think of a better campaign to be involved with, to help safeguard this precious species into the future. Regular updates on the campaign will be posted here, but for more background on LionAid visit: www.lionaid.org

Most interesting from the planning point of view was his comment that developers ‘should make sure there’s something coming back to the community’. The new system will encourage developers to be upfront about the community compensation at the start of their application process – putting the onus on developers to pitch the community gain correctly.