What can Glasgow communications teams learn from Edinburgh's agency market?

What to take away

• Corporate communications in Glasgow is shaped by large public-sector employers and national media desks, not by an agency cluster.
• Edinburgh's agency market sells strategy, public affairs and design capacity that Glasgow buyers can commission without hiring.
• Hiring differs in supply: Glasgow draws from journalism, public sector and in-house pools; Edinburgh draws from agency account teams.
• Briefing differs in scope: Edinburgh agencies expect a written brief and budget; Glasgow public bodies often commission through framework or tender.
• Measurement differs in evidence: agency work is judged on delivery against a brief; public-sector work on audit, FOI and ministerial lines.
• ONS labour market and regional data settles pay and employment counts, not briefing quality or campaign outcomes.

Glasgow public-sector and media employers named

Glasgow is Scotland's largest city and its communications labour market leans on public bodies. The Scottish Government is the biggest single employer of communications staff in the country, with directorates, agencies and ministerial press teams (Scottish Government - Wikipedia).

Glasgow City Council runs one of the largest local authority communications functions in the UK, covering press, digital, internal and campaign work. NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, the largest health board in Scotland, employs communications and engagement staff across hospitals and community services.

Other named Glasgow public-sector employers include Police Scotland, the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, Scottish Enterprise, Skills Development Scotland, the Student Awards Agency Scotland and Glasgow Life. Glasgow Caledonian University and the University of Glasgow also run in-house teams.

Media employers in Glasgow include BBC Scotland at Pacific Quay, STV, BBC Radio Scotland, Clyde 1 and The Herald and Glasgow Times titles under Newsquest. Reach plc runs the Daily Record and Sunday Mail from the city.

Those newsrooms matter for corporate communications because they set the pace of local scrutiny. A Glasgow team pitching a story competes with public-sector press offices that already know the newsdesk.

Edinburgh's agency market and what it offers Glasgow buyers

Edinburgh has a dense agency market: public affairs shops near Holyrood, design and brand studios, and full-service PR firms. Many serve the Scottish Government, quangos, universities and financial services clients.

The offer to Glasgow buyers is capacity and specialism. An Edinburgh agency can cover public affairs at Holyrood, financial calendar work, or a rebrand without a permanent hire. That suits Glasgow teams with a fixed headcount and a variable workload.

Commissioning works differently from hiring. You buy a defined scope, a named team and a delivery date, then review the agency before you trust it (agency review before you trust). Glasgow buyers should ask for the account lead, not the pitch team.

Edinburgh agencies also bring measurement habits from client work: monthly reports, coverage books, sentiment tracking and message testing. Those artefacts are easier to audit than an in-house team's activity log.

Before you brief, know who does what on both sides: client lead, account director, press officer, designer, analyst (who does what). Ambiguity here is the most common cause of a failed Scottish agency engagement.

Hiring differences between the two cities

Glasgow hires from journalism, the public sector and in-house teams. Former reporters from The Herald, BBC Scotland or the Daily Record often move into council, health board or utility communications roles.

Edinburgh hires from agency account teams. Candidates arrive with client-facing experience, pitch skills and a portfolio of campaigns across sectors. They expect structured briefs and timesheet discipline.

Salaries differ less than the shape of the roles. Glasgow public-sector posts come with grades, pensions and defined progression; Edinburgh agency roles come with bonuses, client pressure and faster promotion.

The practical difference is speed. An Edinburgh agency can staff a campaign in weeks. A Glasgow public body may need months for a permanent post, so interim cover and secondments fill the gap.

For skills, both cities now face the same shift: drafts arrive pre-written, so judgement, verification and stakeholder handling matter more than production (skills that matter).

When you need a supplier rather than an employee, shortlist corporate communications providers on scope, references and measurement, not on size alone (shortlist corporate communications providers).

Question	Glasgow in-house	Edinburgh agency
Time to start	Weeks to months	Days to weeks
Typical background	Journalism, public sector	Agency account teams
Pay shape	Grade and pension	Fee and bonus
Brief format	Tender or framework	Written brief and budget
Evidence	Audit, FOI, ministerial lines	Delivery report, coverage, testing

Briefing differences and how they show up in the work

A Glasgow public-sector brief usually arrives as a specification: objectives, audiences, channels, accessibility standards and a procurement route. The language is formal and the constraints are explicit.

An Edinburgh agency brief is shorter and more commercial: the problem, the audience, the budget, the deadline and the measure of success. Agencies fill gaps with their own research and assumptions.

The difference shows up in the first draft. Public-sector work tends to be accurate, cautious and slow to approve. Agency work tends to be sharper, faster and sometimes wrong on factual detail that a press office would catch.

Here is a worked example. A Glasgow health board wants to raise uptake of a screening programme. In-house, the brief covers clinical accuracy, equalities data and NHS branding. Commissioned from Edinburgh, the same brief would add audience segmentation, message testing and a paid social plan.

Both routes need a named factual authority. Someone must sign off clinical claims, and someone must own the response if a journalist challenges them.

Scotland's devolved context adds a layer. Policy responsibility sits with the Scottish Government for health, education and justice, while the Scotland Office handles reserved matters and intergovernmental relations (Office of the Secretary of State for Scotland - GOV.UK).

Practitioners in both cities share one professional body. The CIPR sets standards, runs training and offers Chartered status that public-sector recruiters recognise (Home CIPR).

Measurement differences and what each city can evidence

Edinburgh agencies measure against a brief: reach, coverage quality, sentiment, message pull-through and, increasingly, web or campaign conversion. Reports are frequent and client-facing.

Glasgow public-sector teams measure against accountability: audit findings, freedom of information requests, complaints, ministerial correspondence and reputation tracking. Reporting cycles are annual or committee-based.

Neither is wrong. The risk is borrowing the wrong frame. An agency-style coverage book will not satisfy a council committee, and a quarterly performance report will not tell a marketing director whether a campaign moved behaviour.

A practical compromise is a single measurement framework with two layers. Layer one covers output: volume, reach, accuracy, response times. Layer two covers outcome: awareness, trust, uptake or applications.

Checklist for a Glasgow team commissioning an Edinburgh agency:

• Written brief with objectives, audiences and budget
• Named account lead and escalation route
• Agreed factual sign-off process
• Measurement plan with baseline and review points
• Data protection and records handling confirmed
• Exit and handover terms in the contract
• Devolved policy context checked before launch

What ONS labour market data settles and what it cannot

The Office for National Statistics publishes employment, earnings and vacancy data that lets you compare Glasgow and Edinburgh on hard numbers (Employment and labour market - Office for National Statistics).

Regional accounts add output and gross value added by area, useful when you argue for budget or headcount in a city comparison (Regional accounts - Office for National Statistics).

What the data settles: employment levels, sector mix, average earnings and the direction of travel. It shows that both cities have tight communications labour markets and that public-sector pay lags private agency pay.

What it cannot settle: briefing quality, agency performance, campaign effectiveness or the value of a single hire. Those need your own evidence from a pilot, a review or a reference call.

Use ONS figures to frame the business case, then use your own measurement to prove the work. A Glasgow team that can show both is harder to argue with.

Common questions

Do Glasgow teams need an Edinburgh agency at all? No. In-house teams handle most work. Agencies help when you need Holyrood public affairs, extra campaign capacity or a specialism you cannot hire quickly.

Is Edinburgh more expensive than Glasgow for agency work? Usually yes, because you pay for senior time and city overheads. Ask for a team breakdown and a fixed scope before comparing quotes.

How should we brief an Edinburgh agency on devolved policy? State which matters are devolved and which are reserved, name the relevant minister or committee, and require factual sign-off before publication.

What measurement should we insist on? Agree a baseline, one output measure and one outcome measure. Add a review point at the midpoint so you can change course.

Where does ONS data help most? In pay benchmarking, headcount cases and city comparisons. It is not evidence of communications performance.

What professional standards apply in Scotland? CIPR membership and Chartered status apply across the UK, and public-sector recruiters in Glasgow recognise both.