Glasgow creative agency Frame toasts major client wins
The agency now employs 55 people and turned over £6.3 million last year.
Mr McCranor said: 'The new-shape Frame is leaner, faster, and more effective. We remodelled the business after the MBO creating three specialist divisions – consumer and retail, sport and entertainment, [and] corporate and B2B – while growing our service lines and simplifying our integrated offering, making it much easier to buy. We're feeling the benefits of this now, as are our clients.
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'As well as successfully retendering for our work with UEFA, we've been able to land major UK brands like William Hill, ODEON Cinemas and Battersea Power Station, which is testament to the talent we have in Scotland and continues to back up our position that there's life outside of London.'
Frame's new ownership team includes client services director Anna Quinn, head of consumer and retail Alison Downs, and head of corporate and B2B Harry Hussain. A new class of shares has been created for senior management team members Paddy Baxter and Ewan MacGill, and creative directors Callum Robertson and Eilidh McDonald.
Mr McCranor added: 'Frame is 36 years old, it has real heritage and carries the legacy of many talented people who built the brand and reputation before we got here, but this now feels like a start-up and we're only getting started.
'We've become custodians of the agency in a crazy time, politically and economically, not to mention the pace of technological change which is influencing most if not every industry out there.
'I think the next five years will be a harder time to run a business than in the previous 15, but if the last five years taught us anything it's to expect the unexpected and be ready to adapt fast.
'Whatever path that takes, our focus will remain on delivering meaningful work for businesses who believe in us and providing an amazing place to work for the people who believe in us enough to spend their careers here.'
Mr McCranor first joined the business with the formation of the Frame PR division in 2014. The division was created by the original Frame advertising agency, which was founded in 1989, as a joint venture with Mr McCranor and Charlotte Street Partners, the Edinburgh-based strategic communications and public affairs consultancy, with Mr McCranor at the helm.
Clients include Skyscanner, Diageo, British Business Bank, Miller Homes, Dobbies Garden Centres, Scottish Rugby, Scotland Food & Drink, AGS Airports and the SEC.
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BBC News
4 hours ago
- BBC News
Does Edinburgh's Royal Mile need 72 tourist gift shops?
BBC The Royal Mile is the ancient spine of Edinburgh, visited by five million tourists each year. The collective name for four streets that thread through the city's Old Town, it is home to a 900-year-old castle, a palace and a parliament. But the people who live there claim they are now seeing the overtourism problems being experienced across Europe. With tourists comes tourist shops, and BBC Scotland News walked the length of the Royal Mile to count up a total of 72 stores, selling everything from kilts to Highland cow fridge magnets. They are part of an industry that supports more than 40,000 jobs in Edinburgh. But locals say having so many similar shops in one place is symptomatic of the challenges that mass tourism brings. The gift shops - most of which are run by three main operators - sell every imaginable Scotland or Edinburgh-themed item, from postcards and soft toys to clothing. Included are two shops which only sell Christmas-related gifts. The Royal Mile is also home to 42 cafes or restaurants, 13 bars, eight jewellers and three kilt retailers. That's in addition to the museums, cathedral, court, primary school and homes located along the steep and narrow pavements. 'I'm not against tourism, I just think it has gone too far' One man who is almost uniquely qualified to understand the impact of tourism on the Royal Mile is 77-year-old Jimmy Robertson. He has lived on the Canongate, at the bottom of the Royal Mile, since birth and proudly refers to himself as a Canongotian. Jimmy, who has lived in five different homes, can list the "useful shops" that used to be a stone's throw away. They include hairdressers, butchers, grocers and a doctors' surgery - which is now a whisky shop. He said it used to be "a normal area" where people would live and work. "It was probably in the 1980s you saw a lot of people moving out and the street beginning to change," he explained. Jimmy used to work at the brewery which is now the site of the Scottish Parliament. He has long enjoyed sitting outside the 17th Century Canongate Kirk, where one of the benches has an inscription to his late mother. Jimmy added: "I would sit on that bench and you'd watch the world go by, saying hello to folk you knew coming by. "Now I sit there and it feels like it is just tourists that pass me by. "I'm not against tourism, I just think it has gone far in how it affects people who live here." Jimmy said he now had to go out of the area to get his food shopping, or rely on relatives to bring it to him. He said the council was to blame for allowing too many tourist shops to open in one area. It is a point that some critics argue is borne out by data published by the City of Edinburgh Council last year which shows it owns and rents out 35 shops along the Royal Mile, many of which are leased to tourism businesses. Hanna Wesemann lives just off the Royal Mile and both her children attended Royal Mile Primary School. In 2004, this Victorian-era built school had 165 pupils but now the roll is down to 118 pupils – well below its 210 capacity. The 29% fall in pupils does not surprise Hanna, who says the Old Town increasingly "does not feel like a good area to bring up a family". Hanna puts this down to the pressures of tourism and the blight of anti-social behaviour by problem drug and alcohol users outside her flat, which requires regular calls to the police. She said: "It feels like all that's left here is shops for tourists, tourists, and people who have multiple and complex needs. "It [the Royal Mile] is on our doorstep but we never go there because there's nothing for us. "There used to be some useful shops, even charity shops, but now they are all gone and all I can see is gift shops which all seem to sell the same stuff." Increase in international visitors to Edinburgh Only London beats Edinburgh in terms of the most popular places to visit in the UK. Domestic visitors account for the bulk of the city's tourists staying for at least one night - a total of 2.6m in 2023, up from 2.47m in 2015. But it is overseas visitors who are driving Edinburgh's increasing popularity. After a dramatic fall in the Covid years, Edinburgh now attracts one million more international visitors every year than it did a decade ago. Combined with domestic visitors, that is 4.98m total overnight trips by all visitors in 2023. Where to accommodate these tourists, especially in peak periods like the Edinburgh festivals, has been a topic of hot discussion in the city for years. Edinburgh saw a well documented surge in residential properties being turned over to holiday lets in the previous decade. The number of listings by Airbnb in the city jumped from 1,900 in 2014 to 9,000 three years later. New laws requiring operators of short-term lets to have a licence has reduced this tally but data from Inside Airbnb - an independent website which gathers data on Airbnb's operations - suggests there are still just under 6,000 listings for Edinburgh properties today. BBC Scotland News counted 96 key boxes of the type typically used for holiday lets on, or just off, the Royal Mile earlier this month. The impact of holiday lets on people living in the most popular tourist areas is very familiar to Hanna and her family. She explained: "They're not bad people but they don't consider this as an area where people live as normal residents. "You can't build a relationship with someone for three days and I'm really tired of going upstairs every few days and saying 'Can you please be quiet, we have to go to work in the morning'." While much of the focus on where tourists stay has been on the controversy around holiday lets, there are now 181 hotels in Edinburgh - more than twice as many as there were in 2005. What tourism does for Edinburgh's economy There is little doubt that tourism plays a key role in the city's economy. Hosting the world's largest arts festival every August is a big part of that but tourism is now an all-year round industry. It is estimated the average overnight visitor spent £435 in 2023. That filters down to a range of businesses, from coffee shops to taxi firms, supporting thousands of jobs. A spokesman for the Gold Brothers Group - which owns 16 shops on the Royal Mile and employs 340 people in peak season - said claims about too many tourists were nothing new. But he added that there was still capacity for more visitors outwith the festivals in August. The spokesman said: "Our view is that a number of priority issues are being overlooked due to a fixation on tourist numbers. "The urgent priorities for residents, business owners and visitors to the Old Town are cleanliness as the place is filthy; anti-social behaviour; and criminality including violence and a serious 'theftdemic'. "Maybe Edinburgh's local population could come and visit and reflect on what the Royal Mile looked like years ago with its poorly maintained shops with little or no investment and then, without prejudice, consider the quality of outlets now." The spokesman called on the City of Edinburgh Council to "stride to its A game" by cleaning the Old Town more often and ensuring it is "safe and a joy to behold". Edinburgh 'a great place to live and visit' Council leader Jane Meagher said the local authority was determined ensure the Royal Mile was "clean and well-maintained". She also told BBC Scotland News the Old Town High Street was thriving. Meagher added: "Shopfronts are open, supporting local jobs and our economy, with a great mix of businesses in the area from independent kiltmakers to homemade crafts. "As one of the biggest landlords in the area we encourage this mix and work to make sure properties are occupied." The council leader acknowledged anti-social behaviour remained a concern but said the local authority was working with Police Scotland to address problems. Additional CCTV has also been installed around the Tron and Hunter Square. Meagher said: "We're also making the Royal Mile a safer place for pedestrians and cyclists, while making sure it is clean and well-maintained. "Our refurbishment of North Bridge is a visible commitment of our plans to ensure the area remains at the beating heart of the city, as is the extra £1m we're investing this year to tackle litter and graffiti in our communities." The funding includes additional resources for washing pavements and closes in the Old Town. Meagher said: "Once Edinburgh's visitor levy has launched, we hope to invest even more money to manage the impact tourism has, to ensure our city remains a great place to live and to visit." The future of tourism in Edinburgh Getty Images The latest Scottish census suggests just under 9,000 people live in the areas in and around the Royal Mile. This covers the tall blocks of flats that flank either side of the Royal Mile and the nearby council-built estate of Dumbiedykes, which has about 600 homes but no shop, GP surgery, pharmacy or post office. All of these residents feel the direct pressure tourism can bring but there are wider pressures on the city too. A 8.4% jump in the city's population in the 10 years to 2023 has contributed to a deepening housing and homelessness crisis. Next year Edinburgh will introduce the kind of tourist tax that is common around Europe and city leaders have pledged to invest the £50m it is expected to raise every year on infrastructure improvements. This has been mostly welcomed but some fear it might not be enough to help Edinburgh adapt to the growing demands of tourism. Edinburgh becomes first 'tourist tax' city in Scotland 'I was homeless - now I show tourists my city's hidden side' Record number of overseas tourists visit Scotland in 2023 Tourism Scotland Edinburgh Impacts of tourism Airbnb
Scotsman
5 hours ago
- Scotsman
Giving back: Peter Vardy's driving passion to put Scotland on the world stage
Sign up to our Scotsman Money newsletter, covering all you need to know to help manage your money. Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... It's fair to say the past year has been a pretty frantic one for Peter Vardy, chief executive of the eponymous automotive business founded in Scotland almost two decades ago. A major deal signed at the tail end of 2024 saw the group sell the majority of its car showroom sites to Parks Automotive. Three dealerships, representing Jaguar Land Rover, Mini, BMW, Omoda and Jaecoo, changed hands in Motherwell, Aberdeen and Edinburgh. 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The group also encompasses FlexAuto, a start-up disruptor providing 'flexible vehicle mobility solutions for today's drivers', and Gen+, a leadership and meta-skills programme founded by the Peter Vardy Foundation that aims to get into every school in Scotland. Vardy, whose father Sir Peter Vardy grew Reg Vardy into one of the UK's largest car dealership groups before its sale in 2006, insists that business can be a powerful force for good. Reflecting on the 19 years or so since Peter Vardy Ltd was founded in the wake of that Reg Vardy deal, he told The Scotsman: 'We've always tried to do something that's next generation in business. Make it the best place to work and the best place to buy from and we knew you would get the right financial results if you got those two things right. But we also wanted a 'give back' culture. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'We have created about £200 million of enterprise value over that time and of that we've given about £15m away. 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If we can have a small impact on a larger stage it would be a great ambition for the Foundation to have.' Vardy is equally passionate about the potential for Gen+ and the wider philanthropic aims of the group's Foundation. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'I am not ignoring the business side,' he stresses. 'We have nearly 400 people employed and want to grow that side of things. I am excited about the next chapter. But, if you're asking where my heart is, then the Foundation has done more than I thought it could ever do and I think it can do a lot more.
South Wales Argus
5 hours ago
- South Wales Argus
New hi-tech ticket system makes going to the races easier
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