Made in Leith – Dock

Last Chance to Hog The Street

:: Entries close at 6PM TODAY to win a chance to play the greatest New Year party in the world, Edinburgh’s Hogmanay. The winning act will be opening the main stage for Primal Scream and Bombay Bicycle Club in front of thousands of revellers. 

Reckon your band’s got the hog factor? Enter here: hogthestreet.com/enter

Shortlisted bands will be busking it out for glory next weekend, 3/4th December on Princes Street, so if you’ve got a favourite, head down and stick your shrapnel in the box for them.

For all entries, head down to hogthestreet.com and wrap your ears round some of Scotland’s finest new acts. 

You know when the party season has started when M&Co launch their Xmas partywear ad.

So here it is…

If you want to ‘shop the looks’ for your Xmas party, go no further than mandco.com.

This is one of a series of guest posts from our current Hotdeskers Kenny & Malcolm. We asked them to share their views on the state of street ads around Leith. Here’s what they said…

“A woman looking away, perhaps catching the eye of a passer-by, smiling. She seems honest, friendly; it’s an open invitation for people to inspect her flawless skin.

Nivea are promoting their wide product range with this bus stop ad and it’s a good location for it. People on the street are getting exposed to the wild weather and are thinking about skincare. The female face risks alienating prospective male customers but the copy is bold, appealing to male sensibilities.

You can do things your way; there are one or more Nivea products for you, a perfect match to battle the elements. Kind of like Pokémon, catch them all.”

—

THE HOTDESK

It’s a desk, but more importantly, it’s a foot in the door. Well, more of a toe to be honest. And it’s a toe that’ll be blistered and bashed by the end of your two weeks at the Hotdesk. Because what you’ll be doing is sitting bang in the middle of our creative department, working on some of the best briefs in the country. So why are we doing this? Well, it’s to try and find the next generation of creatives to work in Scotland’s busiest creative dept. So, if you’re up for it, check out leith.co.uk/hotdesk.

“Don’t be British” was just one of Lara Morgan‘s pieces of wisdom for selling and growing a business, at a no-nonsense talk on the Leith barge last night. Be less polite about it, just close the deal.

It was a straight-talking account of how Lara built Pacific Direct, starting with selling pre-threaded sewing kits in her front room, to growing it to 400 staff and eventually selling the business for £20 million 17 years later. What came through loud and clear was a dogged determination and competitiveness to make sales. When asked how she landed one of her biggest accounts, the answer was simple: “I rang them up every day for three years, sometimes three times a day”.

But there was also real creativity in how she made sales. One client baulked at a quote saying it was “painful”, so was told to expect something the next day that would relieve his pain. The following morning he received a tube of Savlon. He’s still got it in desk drawer. And needless to say he accepted the quote.

Even Rocco Forte couldn’t escape, and was threatened with actually being sent a kitchen sink, unless he returned her calls. He picked up the phone after that.

Another piece of advice was to be open and transparent in management. Tell staff how the company is doing. Create a culture where everyone is involved in the highs and lows and is invested in making it work.

And be creative with your management. She paid for staff to go and stay in hotels to see what competitors were doing with their products, and present back on what they were doing better. Staff training, staff entertainment and product development rolled into one. She convinced The Times to run her recruitment ad horizontally, to show how this was a different kind of company. She even put a rose on everyone’s desk on February 13th, to make sure everyone felt a little bit loved regardless of what they got on the 14th. It doesn’t cost a lot to be different, just good ideas and the drive to do them.

So Lara’s set the bar incredibly high for the first in the series of Leithal Thinking Presents. There’ll be more, and if you’re interested in coming to the next one, you can add your name to the list here.

This event was hosted in partnership with Lister McDonald, who enable leaders and businesses to clarify what they want to cause, and empower them to make it a reality.

Lara Morgan has also just brought out a book, More Balls Than Most, available to buy here. And to find out more about what Lara is up to now, check out Company Shortcuts, a collection of frameworks for budding entrepreneurs to do business right.  As it says on the back of her business card, if you’re thinking of setting up or improving a business, “stop fannying about” and do it.

Read more at LeithalThinking.com

Another Music Video Idea We Wished We Thought Of

:: This time for Cassius

(Hat tip to @ruggomatic)

Yesterday our first TV ad for Baxters since Leith won the business broke during Downton Abbey.

With no TV presence since 2006 Baxters soups have fallen down priority lists for some people despite the top quality ingredients and unique recipes that they offer.

So the brief to us was to warm the brand up by injecting a real sense of emotion into the advertising, making it relevant and meaningful to consumers once again.

Shot in the stunning Kyle of Lochalsh and featuring none other than Terry “Really Wild Show” Nutkins’ house and the most charming dog you’re ever likely to meet, “Lochside” is brought to you by Mr Farrell and Phil Evans, directed by the lovely Alex Telfer and produced by MTP.

AMON TOBIN MERGES MUSIC, MEAT AND MACHINES

Ok, not so much meat involved, but definitely liking the visual feast that Ninja Tune’s Amon Tobin brings to his live sets. We’re gonna see whether B & Q’s got something similar for our next live activity.

More on Wired’s Underwire

Leithal Thinking is proud to present Lara Morgan; a highly successful and straight-talking entrepreneur, inspirational business mentor, author, public speaker, and passionate advocate for businesses and entrepreneurial culture.

Tuesday 25th October, 6.30pm for 7pm until 9pm.

The Leith Barge
The Shore
Leith EH6 6QN.
View map

Register your place now

Having founded Pacific Direct in 1991, a business that revolutionised the hotel amenities market (everything from toliteries to sewing kits), Lara sold a 99% holding in the company for £20m in 2008. This experience and her passion for business took Lara to where she is today: driving an ambitious plan to support entrepreneurs who want to maximize success.

Her book ‘More Balls Than Most’ tells the story of her business life. In it she shares insights, wisdom and experiences to inspire young entrepreneurs, established business-people and chief executives alike.

For details of Company Shortcuts, her new business that helps companies in the accelerated growth stage, and ‘More Balls Than Most,’ visit: www.companyshortcuts.com

Leithal Thinking Presents is an initiative  to showcase people who are in the forefront of entrepreneurship and creative thinking.

This event is being hosted in partnership with Lister McDonald, who enable leaders and businesses to clarify what they want to cause, and empower them to make it a reality.

Please RSVP to avoid disappointment, spaces guaranteed to the first 50 responses only.

That’s essentially what’s in store for you in the next installment of our Fiery IRN-BRU online campaign. It’s a follow-up to the erudite old gentleman who were equally impressed by the fiery flavour (who’ve recently rocketed past 45k views on Youtube).

And if that doesn’t pep you up at midday on a cold Wednesday, we don’t know what will.

Thanks again to team Fiery, with an emphasis on Jordan and Dominique who wrote this little beauty.

We’ve developed a new campaign for Public Health Agency to raise awareness of good mental health. The campaign aims to highlight the early warning signs that could indicate a mental health issue and encourage people to seek help.

The ‘Under the surface’ multimedia public information campaign goes live today, World Mental Health Day, and will be carried in local press, on radio, TV, online and on the campaign website www.mindingyourhead.info.

The campaign message is that if you feel that your problems are getting on top of you, you can do something about it, like talking to someone you trust. Too often people are reluctant to seek help because there is still a degree of stigma attached to mental illness.

This campaign builds on the work we’ve been doing for the PHA over the last few years, including the award winning ‘Don’t cover up your problems’ campaign, to try and end this stigma and to get people to think about their mental health in the same way as physical health. Both are fundamental for a good quality of life.