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Glasgowing global

Glasgow’s creative industries are collaborative, energetic and may be taking over the world. Brittany Golob reports from Scotland

London's creative hubs are by now, well established. Silicon Roundabout and the city’s West End are just two of the nerve centres for the capital’s communications network. Head 400 miles north to the River Clyde and a similar creative energy is swiftly spreading across Scotland’s largest city.

Glasgow’s designers, digital fiends, PR professionals and social media wizards have taken up residence in the city’s old dockside quays and its abandoned financial district towers; they have found homes in converted factories and stables, in old buildings and new. Though they have yet to be dubbed with an official nickname, they have effectively taken over Glasgow.

Scottish whisky companies have seen their businesses go global over the past few years, with increasing demand from new markets, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region. Renewable energy companies are similarly growing exponentially as the Scottish government has vowed to meet 100% of its electricity demand through renewables by 2020. Such initiatives have spurred Glasgow from fledgling to forceful in the UK’s creative landscape.

Jonathan Kennedy and Chris Bell, directors of Wave PR, a longstanding Glaswegian agency, add that the skills and educational institutions required to excel in comms already exist in Glasgow. They say the global outlook of both the city and Scotland’s other industries are a boon to the creative industries.

The area is bursting at the seams with creative agencies and energies and Glasgow’s City Council is keen to ride the wave. With the Commonwealth Games descending upon the banks of the Clyde next year, the Council is overseeing the city’s impending rebrand. The campaign will not only officially redefine Glasgow to match the existing perceptions of the city by Glaswegians, but will also reflect the city’s economic leadership and global influence.

The crowdsourcing campaign to determine a new

slogan for the city has allowed GCC to reflect the spirit of the city in its rebrand, Tom Rice, head of marketing communications, says.

Bill Fairweather, head of business development at production company Edit 123, says, “Scotland is quite a good place to be right now.” Among a landscape of startups, the firm, which does post- production for Sky Sports and produces corporate video, has been around for 30 years. Edit’s experience and established quality of output lends a sense of gravitas to the field of young up-and- comers in the Glasgow creative world.

Just down the road from Edit 123, in the Merchant City, lies South Block. What was once a waterside warehouse has been regeneration as studios, offices and artists’ spaces for over 200 people. In the depths of the labyrinthine structure lies one of the original tenants: Made Brave. The agency does everything from graphic design and branding to photography. Founder and MD Andrew Dobbie says, “It’s becoming a creative quarter. It immediately feels cool and like somewhere you want to be. We are of the same quality as London agencies, but without London costs.”

Riccardo Chapman, creative director at Destrukt, a design firm, says the collaborative environment and accessible costs associated with Glasgow’s creative industry make it attractive to new talent and to companies seeking agencies. His studio-mate, David Campbell, creative director of Animoso Creations chimes in, “If you need something, somebody can do it.” Wave PR adds, “The creative industry is extremely important to Scotland. In order to do that, we have to collaborate.”

This collaborative atmosphere can be felt from the Clyde to Glasgow Uni and from east to west along the quays. The city’s creatives’ only challenge now, is to spread that energy, those skills and that experience around the world. They sure are trying.