Flora Martin
The early years
With a background in the military side of the Civil Service - working at the Fleet Air Arm base near Perth and Faslane MoD base at Helensburgh - Flora Martin is now considered to be one of Scotland's PR gurus.[1]
Having worked her way up through various PR companies including Tony Meehan Associates, PR Consultants Scotland and TMA Communications,[2] Flora Martin set up and managed one of the most successful PR businesses in Scotland: Flora Martin PR. Named PR Consultancy of the Year in 1994, Martin worked with Lewis Group, which provides debt collection, sales ledger management and direct marketing services,[3] and landed a £20,000 deal with Forte Crest to handle public relations for their Glasgow city centre and airport hotels[4].
The Citigate years
In 1997, Flora Martin sold her company to Dunseath Citigate (a 1996 merger of Edinburgh-based PR company Dunseath Stephen and Citigate Communications,[5] subsequently bought by Incepta) to form Citigate Scotland.
With clients from Asda to the Bank of Scotland, Martin continued to build the business into a £5m turnover company through a programme of expansion and acquisition. She prompted and oversaw the c.£2 million merger with Smarts Advertising & Design to form Citigate Smarts in 2000. Having worked informally with Smarts for several years, Flora Martin's relationship with the firm had come to an end in 1994 when Smarts hired former SNP MP Margo Macdonald to run its public relations.[6]
In 2004, Martin stepped down as boss of the Glasgow and Edinburgh offices of Citigate Smarts to work as an independent consultant. The following year she was awarded an Outstanding Achievement Award by the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) Scotland, of which she is a fellow.
The Platform years
In 2007, Flora Martin became chair of Platform PR. On 28 January 2008, it was announced that Flora Martin would head the new Glasgow office of the company which has offices in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Beauly.[7]
Culture and PR
Also in 2007, Flora Martin was appointed as a Director of Culture and Sport Glasgow (Trading) CIC, the business arm of Culture and Sport Glasgow, where her PR skills will no doubt prove invaluable to the broader strategies around branding[8] and tourism[9] being pursued by the Glasgow City Marketing Bureau.
In keeping with the sporting side of Culture and Sport Glasgow's endeavours, Martin is a keen golfer and, until the mid-1990s, organised an annual tournament attended by her and husband Sandy's influential friends.
Notes
- ↑ Ron Clark ‘Spreading the PR message; Flora Martin The leap from Civil Service to one of Scotland's leading media gurus is a big one’ The Herald, 10 May 2003 (accessed 5 April 2008).
- ↑ John-Pierre Joyce ‘The iron lady of Glasgow - It would take a brave heart to consider crossing swords with Flora Martin’, PR Week, 3 May 1996 (accessed 5 April 2008).
- ↑ Colin Calder ‘Shop Talk’, Sunday Times, 6 February 1994 (accessed 8 April 2008)
- ↑ 'Martin books in hotel deal', Sunday Times, 16 October 1994 (accessed 8 April 2008).
- ↑ John Ivison 'Dunseath pulls off public relations coup', The Scotsman, 25 April 1996 (accessed 7 April 2008).
- ↑ Rob Brown ‘Independent voice set for new PR job’, Scotland on Sunday, 9 January 1994 (accessed 8 April 2008)
- ↑ All Media Scotland Press Release [1] (accessed 4 April 2008)
- ↑ Glasgow: Scotland with Style Brand Guide Media:Glasgow_Scotland_with_style_-_The_City_Brand_SEPTE.pdf
- ↑ Glasgow's Tourism Strategy to 2016Co-published by Glasgow City Marketing Bureau, Glasgow City Council, Scottish Enterprise and VisitScotland, 2007 (accessed 4 April 2008)
