As a further commitment to its employee proposition, ‘Bright Careers. Realised.’ Muckle Media has accredited with The 4 Day Week Campaign and secured gold status. The agency now operates a four-day week, with the team working either Monday to Thursday or Tuesday to Friday, for full time pay.

Muckle Media trialled a four-day week during the summer, with the introduction of weekly team wellbeing days, and measured productivity and team happiness. Productivity, which is measured as the percentage of team time attributed to billable work, increased eight percentage points during the trial, despite the trial falling during the summer when the most annual leave is taken. Happiness, measured by employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS) increased from 23 in June to 53 in October, on a scale of -100 to 100, with over 50 classed as excellent.

The agency has also introduced further benefits this year, with eight weeks of holiday and enhanced maternity package including a month’s wages pre-baby to help with buying baby equipment.

Muckle Media Founder, Nathalie Agnew, said,

“We are continuously looking for ways to ensure our team have a good work/life balance and are able to deliver exceptional results, without undue stress and pressure. As a B-Corp we are committed to finding ways to support our team wherever possible. We appreciate the environment we work in is fast moving, so we will always have appropriate support available to clients, particularly in a crisis or when a fast turnaround opportunity arises.”

You can find out more about the 4-day week campaign here: https://www.4dayweek.co.uk/

We are delighted to have been appointed by one of Edinburgh’s unique historic tourist attractions, The Real Mary King’s Close, to support with its PR on a retained basis.

Following a competitive pitch process, Muckle Media was appointed to support The Real Mary King’s Close on a number of campaign activations, events, and announcements throughout 2023 and beyond.

Muckle Media Director, Chris Batchelor, said: “As the tourism sector gets back up and running again, we’re delighted to be working alongside one of Edinburgh’s top tourist attractions and promote all the fantastic work and events they have planned throughout 2023. We have loved getting to know the team at The Real Mary King’s Close and looking forward to working with, and becoming an extension of, the team over the course of the year.”

The Real Mary King’s Close Marketing Manager, Emilie Lumineau, said: “2023 is a special year for us at The Real Mary King’s Close, as it has been 20 years since we started telling the stories of Edinburgh’s past residents in these underground streets. We were impressed with Muckle Media’s creativity and the team’s enthusiasm for our brand and the site’s history. We are excited to start working together on some exciting campaigns throughout the year.”

We are delighted to have been appointed by the UK’s number one travelagent Barrhead Travel, an Internova Travel Group company, to support with its PR on a retained basis.

Following a competitive pitch process, Muckle Media was appointed to support BarrheadTravel on a number of campaign activations and announcements throughout 2022 and beyond, including continued support of the brand’s “Book Human, Book Barrhead Travel” campaign that launched at the start of the year.

Muckle Media Director, Chris Batchelor, said: “As the travel sector gets back up and running again, we’re delighted to be working alongside the UK’s number one travel agent and promote all the fantastic work they’re doing. We have loved getting to know the team at Barrhead Travel and looking forward to working with, and becoming an extension of, the team over the course of 2022 to make sure it is a success.”

Jacqueline Dobson, President of Barrhead Travel, said: “Travel is, finally, on the minds of consumers across the country after two long years of lockdown and we have plenty of news to share as travellers return to their high street agencies.

“We’re really pleased to be working with Muckle Media who demonstrated excellent knowledge of retail PR activity and creative solutions to some of our most complex messaging challenges.”

This latest win for Muckle Media forms part of the creative agencies continued growth over the last 12 months following the acquisition with food and drink agency Taste Communications.

UMi has appointed creative communications agency, Muckle Media, to help intermediaries, partners, government and business services come together around the common goal of making it easier for SMEs to succeed.  

Following a competitive tendering process, we were appointed to work collaboratively with UMi to help attract organisations from across the business services sector to join the UMi network. 

With offices in Edinburgh, Inverness, Glasgow and Aberdeen and a reach across the UK and internationally, we have extensive experience of bringing stakeholders together to devise innovative solutions to common business challenges.  

UMi Chief Executive, Nicki Clark, said: “Muckle Media stood out from the crowd as a perfect partner to help us at what is an incredibly exciting time for our business.  They stood out because of their shared values, demonstrated in part through their B Corp certification, their clear understanding of what it’s like to start and run a successful SME, and their track record in supporting businesses throughout the UK and beyond enhance their reach and recognition. 

“Since 2007, UMi has helped over 450,000 businesses to do more and go further and through some exciting enhancements to UMi Sat Nav for business, we’re hoping to reach many more.”  

Muckle Media Managing Director, Nathalie Agnew, added: “We’re thrilled to be working with such a forward-thinking and committed team as UMi. They provide valuable knowledge and resources to businesses across the UK, and we’re excited to help grow their network and support even more businesses to thrive on their journey. 

“We’ve really enjoyed getting to know UMi and are looking forward to becoming an extension of their team over the next 12 months.” 

This year UMi hopes to leverage the expertise of more corporates, blue-chips and large businesses than ever before through its partnership with Muckle Media, making it easier for businesses to think differently, innovate and grow.

Muckle Media will also help UMi grow its business-to-consumer offering and engage with entrepreneurs, start-ups, and SMEs, encouraging them to take advantage of the support and advice available through the UMi Sat Nav.  

Launched late last year, the UMi Sat Nav is a unique platform and mobile application that helps businesses get to their destination quicker and in better shape.  

It brings together the latest finance and funding opportunities, personalised business advice and monthly check-ins, and access to hundreds of events, workshops, tools and resources. 

Sat Nav subscribers also benefit from a range of exclusive discounts and deals with trusted partners, all of which is aimed at taking the hard work out of starting, running and growing a business.  

This latest win for Muckle Media forms part of the creative agency’s continued growth over the last 12 months following the acquisition of food and drink agency Taste Communications in April. 

Muckle Media, the creative communications agency, has acquired Taste Communications Scotland in a six-figure deal.

The strategic growth move by Muckle Media will see the Taste Communications brand retained and the existing team move over to form part of Muckle Media’s wider group of companies.

Taste Communications was formed 10 years ago and fast established itself as Scotland’s first specialist food and drink agency. Its growing reputation has resulted in long term relationships with top luxury brands including Gleneagles, Fairmont St Andrews, Prestonfield and The Three Chimneys.

Muckle Media, Scotland’s first and only B-Corp PR agency, will integrate with Taste Communications over a twelve-month period from 1^st April, with Taste founder Stephen Jardine becoming a non-executive Director.

Nathalie Agnew, managing director of Muckle Media said:

“I’ve long admired the work of Stephen and the Taste Communications team and the fantastic brands they work with. This deal builds upon our existing experience helping food, drink and hospitality brands to grow through strategic, creative communications, bolstering our team and client list.

“We look forward to continuing to build upon Taste Communications’ excellent reputation as a specialist food, drink and hospitality specialist agency, bringing our extensive team’s skillset to add value to Taste Communications’ fantastic clients.

“We are actively seeking further investment opportunities as we grow an exciting, nurturing and ethical agency with global ambitions, from our Scottish base.”

Stephen Jardine, founder of Taste Communications added: “After 10 years in business I wanted to find a fresh way to take Taste forward and develop what we have achieved. Nathalie has built a brilliant business with a great reputation and Muckle Media is the ideal home for the next chapter in the Taste story”.

Taste Communications is Muckle Media’s second acquisition and fourth agency brand, joining Muckle Media (creative and strategic PR), community engagement brand Platform PR, which was acquired in 2015 and Relative PR, a spin out brand launched in 2019 to support family-owned businesses with communications.

The agency will relocate to Muckle Media’s Edinburgh HQ at WeWork on George Street. In line with Muckle Media’s core values to be kind, get results and leave the world in a better place, Taste Communications operations will be aligned against the B-Corp framework over the coming twelve months.