Creativebrief Founder & Chairman Tom Holmes talks to Ed Brooke, Head of Leith
Ed Brooke, Leith
Ed has worked in the marketing industry for the last 18 years. Formally working with the Grey Group in London on a diverse range of accounts including Canon, P&G and Avis, Ed moved to Scotland in 2000 and has been within the senior management team of the Leith Agency since 2003. Currently Head of the Agency, Ed overseas key accounts including IRN-BRU, Aldi, First Transport and Dobbies, the Tesco owned Garden Centre chain. He attended the Universidad Complutense de Madrid and is a Spanish and French speaker.
TH: Ed, what does the Edinburgh brand stand for?
EB: Edinburgh is fundamentally an inspiring city.
What other city sits on the coast, with a volcano and a castle for a skyline, has year round festivals, a café culture, a smart workforce creating medical breakthroughs and develops world-leading computer games.
Cracking the world’s renewable energy challenge, regularly winning ‘Best place to live in Britain’ – and throwing the biggest New Year’s party in the world to boot means this City stands for something special that we all need. Somewhere that genuinely uplifts you.
TH: How do you think Edinburgh should position itself?
EB: In the past it has relied on the ‘Inspiring Capital’ positioning.
This falls into the trap of telling people something they are meant to feel and believe, rather than demonstrating it through its actions. Edinburgh sometimes comes across as a bit reserved, a bit establishment, or a bit stuffy – beleaguered by Tram woes, road works and infrastructure overspends.
It needs to break free from this and use innovation through its history and architecture, its vibrant arts and cultural scene and the explosion of the biomedical and engineering sectors to focus on what an incredible place Edinburgh is to live, work, study and visit.
TH: Are the city’s brand values reflected in your own agency culture?
EB: We’d like to think that the creativity of Edinburgh rubs off on us all but the real values we share are probably with those of Leith – straight talking, resourceful, a bit cheeky and challenging.
TH: Does being based in Edinburgh influence your creative output? If so, how?
EB: I think that London agencies can become a little myopic. It’s all about what’s on their doorstep.
Being in Edinburgh, perhaps like Dublin, Amsterdam or Stockholm means you have to look further afield and ensure you are always looking to challenge and innovate.
Ed Brooke, Leith
TH: What makes your agency offer different?
EB: Our location – see all the reasons above.
TH: Why should clients consider sourcing work from Edinburgh agencies?
EB: If you’re after a talent base that on the one hand has experience of working in some of the world’s biggest and best agencies blended with a bunch of fresh, young creatively challenging people then look no further. Add to this the fact that we are better value for money than competitors in London in terms of hourly rates and production costs then what’s not to like.
TH: What sort of clients do you want to attract?
EB: We want to attract clients who want open, frank and challenging discussions around their brands. There’s nothing more stimulating for both client and agency than having a relationship like this that then leads to work everyone is talking about.
TH: What work have you done recently makes you really proud?
EB: In terms of talked about and effective work that gives us all a glow then it’s hard to see beyond our new campaign for IRN-BRU and the work we’ve recently produced to highlight the importance of getting checked for Breast Cancer.
TH: What Scottish brands do you most admire and why?
EB: It’s a great time for Scottish brands. There’s real innovation and invention going on in traditional sectors such as beer with Brewdog and Innis and Gunn. Some of the traditional textile and fashion brands are flying such as Hunter, Pringle and Harris Tweed.
TH: Are there any local marketers who have inspired you?
EB: I was at a Marketing Society Dinner the other day and Craig Inglis from John Lewis was telling us about his brand. The guy had every right to be fairly full of it but he was genuinely unassuming, self-effacing and the presentation was quality – all a bit like the brand he looks after.
TH: What business would you most like to win?
EB: The big two holes currently are financial services and beer. We’ve got rich experience and a pedigree in these areas so we’re knocking on local doors that contain both. Frustratingly some of the big players up here seem committed to spending more and getting less down South but we’ll do as the Leith motto says and persevere.
TH: Thanks Ed.
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