A LACK of ambition is preventing Scottish advertising agencies from winning more UK-wide business, according to the new chair of the Scottish branch of the industry’s trade body.
Said Ken Dixon, last night, in his inaugural address as chair of the Scottish Institute of Practitioners in Advertising: “In this free-market hour of need, the twin notions that ‘good enough is not enough’ and ‘great ideas can come from anywhere’ appear incredibly relevant.
“We should all be delivering a bit more ambition, energy, rigour and creativity.”
The planning partner at Edinburgh-based Newhaven Communications added that Scottish advertising agencies should stop complaining about work heading south. “What if we all focused more of our attention on the market that isn’t here, beyond the border, even beyond the UK, because that’s where the majority of the opportunities lie?
“I think it’s time we exploited our relative lack of scale, our flexibility and capability and turned our underdog status to our collective advantage.”
He continued: “I really believe that we all need to get out of our self-imposed ‘creative agency silos’ and start tapping into more of the creativity and business acumen that surrounds us; whether that’s in the business schools, the art colleges, the science labs or the dynamic start-ups that are filling the void left by the demise of redundant heavy industries.
“As an industry body, our challenge going forward is to help make brands or organisations more relevant, robust, and sustainable – in every sense of the word.”
