Have you heard that AI will break new ground in 2024? So have we – but we know that next year is going to be big one in lots of different ways.  As we wrap up 2023 and look to 2024, we’re thinking about what we can expect and hope for in line with our core values of being kind, getting results and making the world a better place.

Be Kind
America’s oldest dictionary, Merriam-Webster, named ‘authentic’ as their word of the year for 2023. But what does ‘authenticity’ actually mean?  In a PR and marketing context, we know that people want to see brands display their ‘human’ side. We think that next year will see consumers continue to place more importance on connecting with brands on a genuine, personal level. As an agency we’ll also continue to encourage authenticity within our workforce by nurturing everyone’s individual talents and allowing our team to be themselves at work – and hopefully we’ll see more and more organisations do the same.

Get results
Although we expect the human aspect of PR to be a focus next year, the advancing role of technology certainly isn’t to be ignored – so as an industry, we need to find ways to use it to our advantage. There are so many tools out there that can help us, but we’ll need to evolve to keep up with the brave new world we’ll find ourselves in. For us as an agency, we’ll be making the most of the technology on offer to help us think outside the box in terms of getting great results for our clients.

Leaving the world in a better place
Since we became a B Corp in 2022, we’ve seen more and more organisations become interested in doing the same. Being certified as a B Corp means that organisations have high standards to live up to. B Corps value social and environmental sustainability, accountability, and transparency – qualities that are more important than ever as we go into a year that looks like it will be shaped by the climate crisis, the spread of misinformation and political and economic uncertainty. We’re expecting to see more businesses look to demonstrate their commitment to these values – and we’ll be continuing to put our B Corp values into action too, as we aspire to have a positive impact on the world around us.

So as 2023 comes to a close, we’re looking forward to seeing where the coming year takes us – with the knowledge that our core values will help us to navigate whatever comes next.

Hybrid working has been a hot topic for a number of years, brought into sharp focus by the Covid pandemic.

Here at Muckle, we are proud to embrace a hybrid working model, with our team working across Scotland, from Aberdeen to Inverness, Glasgow to Edinburgh, and even a farm.

Hybrid working allows us to have the best of both worlds, an office base when we need it, and the flexibility to be at home as well.

Our senior account manager Jess Murphy, who is based in the Granite City, spoke to the Press and Journal to share her insights on how hybrid working works for her (and her cat Merida too!)

From making sure to keep active, remaining connected to colleagues, and other thoughts on the benefits and balance of hybrid working, read more here: *link to P and J story – https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/news/aberdeen-aberdeenshire/6265642/hybrid-working-wellbeing-aberdeen/ )

Muckle Media, the creative communications agency, is full of PRide after taking home four awards at Scotland’s CIPR Pride awards.

The agency received gold awards for environmental campaign of the year, integrated campaign of the year and PR consultancy of the year and a silver award for consumer relations campaign of the year.

One of the industry’s most sought-after awards, PR consultancy of the year is awarded to an agency who has had an incredible year in terms of financial performance, client campaigns, business strategy and all-round achievement.

The other categories are judged against a thorough criteria which considers campaign brief, objectives and budget, ideas research and planning, strategy, creativity and innovation, delivery of tactics and measurement, evaluation and impact.

Muckle’s silver award win for consumer relations campaign of the year was secured for its work with Moray Council and Stagecoach Bluebird, delivering a campaign to encourage locals and visitors of the Moray region to utilise public bus routes. The same campaign also secured this year’s gold award for integrated campaign of the year, for successfully implementing a multi-channel approach to reach target audiences.

The environmental campaign of the year was awarded for Muckle’s work with Highlands Rewilding, to promote a three-month fundraising and crowdfunding campaign. With Muckle’s support, the crowdfund exceeded 50% of the initial target within the first three weeks of the crowdfund going live and by the end of the campaign, the crowdfund stretch- target was exceeded, with a closing total of £1.2 million raised from over 725 citizen rewilders.

The agency was shortlisted for a further 5 awards in recognition on its industry leading work including; best use of content, low budget campaign, public sector campaign, not-for-profit campaign, and healthcare and/or wellbeing campaign of the year.

Muckle Media Founder Nathalie Agnew said: “The agency has gone from strength to strength over the last couple of years while we’ve been in a period of rapid growth which has seen us bring on new team members as we’ve built our client base exponentially.  We’ve focused our efforts on making Muckle Media one of the best communications agencies to work for and with so I’m delighted to see the efforts of the team being recognised.

Following our campaign with the Loch Ness Centre this summer, Alastair Campbell called Nessie Scotland’s ‘Golden Goose’ on his ‘The Rest is Politics’ podcast, saying it was ‘PR of the highest order’, and even gave the Centre’s General Manager, Paul Nixon, a shoutout for his fantastic yellow suit. Admittedly, it felt nice to get praise from someone like Alistair Campbell, but what exactly did we do to deserve it?

Following a £1.5 million investment in the Loch Ness Centre and Deepscan cruises from leading UK tourist attraction manager Continuum Attractions, we were tasked with delivering global coverage to bring tourists to the centre.

Loch Ness Centre were arranging ‘The Quest’ – a weekend of events at the end of August arranged in partnership with Loch Ness Exploration’s (LNE), an independent and voluntary research team, for volunteers to search the famous waters of Loch Ness and uncover its mysteries.

We knew there is always interest in Nessie, but we wanted to make sure we had something that would capture the attention of the world.

After research, we found out that we could position ‘The Quest’ as the largest search in over 50 years with new technology being used to search the waters of the Loch – this was the hook we were looking for.

Through strong media relations when we launched ‘The Quest’ we secured significant global media coverage.

One week from the event, we drafted a further press release calling for Monster Hunters across the globe to sign up and watch the live web cams of the Loch over the weekend, and search for anything unexplained.

Over ‘The Quest’ weekend, we managed media invites and the media schedule pre and during the weekend, with media on site from the Washington Post to German broadcasters ZDF and Australia’s ABC.

Finally, Following the weekend, we followed up with media once again with details of findings from the weekend, keeping the legend of Nessie well and truly alive.

Over a 4-week period, we generated over 2,300 pieces of coverage with media secured across the globe, including New York Post, Washington Post, BBC, and The Guardian and over 192 pieces of broadcast coverage including Good Morning America, BBC Radio 2, BBC Breakfast and Sky News.

During the period, over 6,000 people visited the Quest part of the Loch Ness Centre website, and over 200 people volunteered to take part in the hunt arriving from countries including the US, Canada, Poland, and Denmark, and over 300 people from across the world watched the live stream.

So what can we learn this?

It’s not every day you get a world-famous beast as part of your PR arsenal, but there are lessons to learn, we took an event and elevated it with a key hook on being the ‘biggest’, we also created several story moments to keep up momentum, and maybe most importantly we made the event open to everyone with a live stream making the event truly global.

If you want to hear how we can help elevate your PR and stories, get in touch. And if you want to hear what Alastair Campbell had to say about the campaign, you can hear it here from 10.50:

https://open.spotify.com/episode/6FDw1P3LZiiDlSMLZHojre?si=EjO6kYTLSsOREiiI7uhOSg

Creative communications agency Muckle Media’s team are celebrating awards success after winning ‘Growth Business of the Year’ at the Women’s Enterprise Scotland Awards 2023.

Taking place at Glasgow’s voco Grand Central Hotel, the ceremony recognised female business leaders across ten categories and was attended by BAFTA-award winning television journalist Kirsty Wark, who delivered the keynote speech.

Sponsored by the Royal Bank of Scotland, the Growth Business of the Year Award celebrates women-led businesses which have achieved considerable growth and financial performance, as well as a solid understanding of creating and sustaining commercial success within the context of the markets they operate in.

Muckle Media founder and Managing Director Nathalie Agnew said: “Women’s Enterprise Scotland is doing invaluable work in championing women-owned and women-led enterprises, and it’s an honour to be recognised alongside so many accomplished female business leaders in Scotland. We’re thrilled to be taking home the Growth Business of the Year Award and extend our congratulations to all the finalists and winners at this year’s awards for their ambitious and innovative work”.

Along with the Growth Business of the Year accolade, Muckle is shortlisted for a host of prizes this awards season, including in four categories at the CIPR PRide awards.

Written by Chloe Ainslie

I joined Muckle Media for a three-week internship. As a recent graduate from Queen Margaret University, I was nervous but keen to start building up my professional skillset now that I was no longer a student.

Although I had graduated with a degree in Film and Media, I had never directly done anything in PR, and I couldn’t really tell you what it meant if you were to ask me at the start. Regardless, I was ready to start, and didn’t expect the experience to be as fulfilling and enjoyable as it was!

I took part in a range of tasks whilst at Muckle, such as, assisting with the launch of a new restaurant, doing deep dives into the food and drink industry and its community, drafting copy and more.

The work was one of the strongest aspects, challenging my tech and communications skills whilst teaching me about a range of different topics and companies. There was a sense of being ‘behind the scenes’ which made me feel very accomplished. But undoubtedly the best part was the people. I got to work with very kind, helpful and patient colleagues who helped me feel more confident as the weeks progressed. Some days would be slower than others and I could sometimes feel a bit shy about asking for more things to do but ultimately, I was met with warmth and helpfulness.

I am very happy I was given this opportunity to intern for Muckle Media. It was a rewarding and worthwhile experience that turned out to be the ideal start for professional life after university. I now have a better definition for PR from when I first started – sheer variety and surprisingly fun!

P.S – there’s an on-site barista, beer taps in the Edinburgh office AND it’s dog friendly. Easily the best workplace I’ve been to.

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.”