A small rant - that ate too much and didn't exercise...

I am proud to say I have had REPLIES to my e-mails at last. Mr.'s Paul Belford and Nigel Roberts kindly took the two minutes out of their days to get back to me. Maybe because I said I liked their stuff. Probably because they're nice people who understand that 'student' means 'someone I can influence greatly, be it for better or worse' and chose to do 'better'.

I've been wondering about the lack of coverage of Scottish agencies, say in Campaign or Media Week, and now have come to the decision that they're not there, because they don't PUT themselves there. I want to work in Scotland when I graduate. I have no desire to ever live in London, Mancunians scare me, and Leeds smells of chip-shop batter and wee. So, to Scotland I go. And some of you might be thinking they're not in the ad-news because they only do ads for IRN BRU and Bell's, but I assure you you're mistaken.

Of course, a fair chunk of their media is only broadcast in the most dire outposts of civilisation, The More Northerly Than North, but does that mean they can't do ads? Or that their ads are not as newsworthy? Or is it just that the guys there are too busy to TELL PEOPLE that they're working on something? Or is it simply that folks down south thinks all brainpower ends at the M25 - or, to the more enlightened, at Hadrian's Wall?

...They're definitely too busy to reply to a damn e-mail, anyway. I tried several times, to several places, over the summer - grovelling, jovial, threatening - whatever. Got nothing, not even a 'No Thanks' back. Why? Why can I get an e-mail of 5 paragraphs back - the same day - from a big-shot super-award-winning 'writer like Roberts, but the guys up in Edinburgh (at 5 different places) can't possibly spare the time or effort to write me two words? Are they too big, too clever? Even if they've just had to sack 50 people and are about to go bust, a simple 'We can't do anything at the moment, write back after the recession' would ease my worries that I'm some kind of relation to a weasel and give me a target to work for. I'm going to say this lack of communication is what leads to Scottish agencies - no matter how innovative and interesting - being forever and always second-rate.

If you're reading this, and you work in Scotland, perhaps you could enlighten me. Or just reply next time I get in touch!