Rumours surround Barkers Scotland future
Rumours surround Barkers Scotland futureRumours circulating about the closure of Barkers Scotland have been given credence by the company’s refusal to comment on its status.
On contacting the Scottish office of the social marketing agency which has offices in Glasgow, Edinburgh, The Drum was diverted straight to its headquarters in London where as spokesperson said the company would not be able to comment at the present time but that ‘a statement’ would be issued on Monday.
They did however indicate that the Scottish office may not actually have closed permanently, but would not elaborate.
Speculation is that five memebers of staff have been retained at the Edinburgh office to work in recruitment, while all advertising and PR staff have been made redundant.
The news follows rumours that Andy McArthur, head of social marketing was to lead an MBO alongside Robert Bain, CEO of Barkers for the Social Marketing Division, although he denied this when questioned at the time.
The Drum was unable to contact both McArthur and Christina Kelly, head of PR who are both based in Glasgow.
Earlier today however, it was announced that Barkers Social Marketing was one of 19 agencies to be appointed to a new NHS North West roster.
Barkers Recruitment was ‘downscaled’ in April although the company said at the time that was not looking to do the same with its advertising and PR operations.
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Very sad news if it's true. The problem, I suspect, is with specialising in social marketing. As your article points out, Barkers are/were on a number of COI/Public Sector frameworks.
These frameworks don't mean business any more, but have turned into 'permission to pitch'.
Permission to pitch:
(a) often for low value contracts worth less than the cost of pitching
(b) against far too many competitors
(c) blind
And the irony is that in times of recession, the public sector was the one thing you could bank on.
Good luck to the team and whatever they do next.
comments
As with the closure of any organisation, it is a great shame.
I think perhaps they were too heavily realiant on the public sector and the current roster framework makes this a difficult area to make margin.
A good friend of mine there has been made redundant. If anyone needs a shit hot artworker then please drop me a line - david@becausebrandsmatter.com
Sad. I have it on good authority 2 more big names will disappear before end of summer.
A shame but this cannot be blamed on the roster. They had a chance to move with the times and update their profile but weak management resulted in stagnation and ultimately their competitors overtook them.
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