SPEY SETS COURSE FOR GROWTH

SPEY, Scotland’s best small communications consultancy, is marking its fifth birthday with a suite of senior hires to the management team, client wins and expansion of services, as the Speyside headquartered business sets course for growth.

Set up in 2017 in the north of Scotland, the agency was created to promote Scottish brands on the world stage as a locally rooted business with a global ethos. Four new partner roles have been created to join the management team, with Rob Mathie appointed Head of Strategy, which is a new role as the bridge between client brief and creative solution. Rob has delivered breakthrough work for big brands from Edinburgh to New York to London specialising in cultural and social impact campaigns for Diageo, UN Women, Superdrug, England Rugby and many more.

Utilising his expertise, the agency will now be offering clients a more diverse range of services to tap into consumer demand for purpose-led brands that deliver culturally relevant campaigns with social impact.

In a further new role, former BBC broadcaster Eleanor Bradford is returning to SPEY as a Partner after working in-house for SPEY client Gordonstoun School, to become Head of PR. Emma Scott has been promoted to Managing Partner taking over day-to-day running of the agency from owner and founder Jennifer Robertson, who will now focus on strategic overview of the business. Marion Cordiner, also part of the management team, has been promoted to Partner after several years at the agency leading on some of SPEY’s biggest clients. With a suite of recent client wins including Berry Bros & Rudd Spirits, Glen Mhor Hotel in Inverness, Scotland’s only all-through school for girls St Margaret’s in Aberdeen and Lind & Lime Distillery in Leith, the agency has built up a portfolio of brands it represents across food and drink, sustainability, education, tourism, hospitality and third-sector. Doubling in size since the pandemic with a team of 15, the business has acquired premises in the historic Port of Leith and is on course to reach £1m turnover in the next year based solely on organic growth.

Jennifer Robertson, SPEY’s founder, said:

“When I started some people thought it was an unthinkable move setting up an agency in the north of Scotland to service global Scottish brands, but if the pandemic has taught us anything it's that it doesn’t matter where you work it is how you work. Our rural HQ ensures our staff are more connected to the natural environment as well as the largest part of Scotland, the Highlands. Supported by our Port of Leith office, this offers our team greater work-life-balance which is probably why Public Relations and Communications Association (PRCA) voted us best small agency and best agency for team and culture two years in a row.

Investing in our people and our capabilities has been a priority since inception, driven by our talent programme to retain and attract talent to Speyside, creating jobs which didn’t exist before in an industry which most people need to move to the cities for.

Now in our fifth year we are building up our team, strengthening our expertise across sectors, and capabilities, to ensure we continue to deliver the highest quality work underpinned by our locally rooted but global ethos, putting Scottish brands with purpose on the world stage.”

About SPEY

SPEY is an independent communications agency headquartered in Speyside supported by a second office in Leith which opened in 2019. SPEY has a nimble team of multi-disciplinary experts across creative strategy, PR, social and content with fourteen employees. SPEY boasts a long-standing flexible working culture which heavily supports parents returning to work. Working with Highlands and Islands Enterprise, SPEY runs a graduate programme, is an accredited Scottish Living Wage employer paying all our interns the Scottish Living Wage and has been carbon neutral since 2020.

Recent award wins include:

• Global PR Agency of the Year 2022 Whisky Magazine Icons of Whisky
• Small Consultancy of the Year 2021 & 2022 PRCA DARE Awards
• Team Culture & Community Award 2021 & 2022 PRCA DARE Awards
• FMCG Marketing and Communications Campaign of 2021, PRmoment
• Best PR Agency in whisky 2022, Whisky Magazine Icons of Whisky Awards

www.spey.scot

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