Talk:TMA Communications

2 of 10 DOCUMENTS

The Herald (Glasgow)

March 10, 2000

Patriot with global interest

BYLINE: John Mckinlay

SECTION: Pg. 3

LENGTH: 1262 words

Tony Meehan considers himself a citizen of the world who also happens to be Scottish. Put another way, he believes in Scotland as part of a global community, but he detests xenophobia.
Some Scots, he thinks, have been sold an emotional package wrapped up to represent a romantic his-tory of Scotland and the meaning of nationhood. He applauds outward-looking devolution but would be con-cerned about narrow-minded independence.
It is this modern blend of patriotism and internationalism which explains the importance he attaches to linguistic abilities when he interviews job candidates for positions at his company, Tony Meehan Associates (TMA), a broad -based consultancy in the public relations and communications sector. He works for blue chip companies based at home and abroad, offering a wide range of services, from political and public affairs to consumer communication programmes, from training to media relations and crisis management. 
I believe the ability to speak other languages is absolutely crucial now. It is an advantage in business and it is something I consider when I am looking for new employees. It is a preferential."
His company is currently expanding, and is seeking to recruit two senior managers and a graduate trainee.
Meehan, aged 56, openly admits he does not himself speak other languages. They were not
so important in the world he grew up in.
Nowadays, however, he travels extensively both for his business and as a speaker on the international circuit, something which grew out of a unique achievement in 1995. He became the first and only UK winner of the Overall Golden World Award, presented by the International Public Relations Association. IPRA covers 70 countries and more than 1000 members.
Meehan founded Glasgow-based TMA in January 1976 - now one of the top 10 companies of its kind in Scotland - after a restless career, first in the insurance industry, transferring to a pirate radio station off the Scottish coastline in the mid-1960s, then advertising, copy writing and finally public relations.
He left school "too early" at 16 but went on to successfully undertake distance learning and professional examinations.
He estimates there are between 5000 and 7000 people employed in public relations and communica-tions in Scotland, and believes the industry will continue to expand. What it needs are people of the right quality, hopefully with the ability to speak another language.
In the developing global society, are languages important in whatever career you choose?
Yes. The challenge is to get people not only to learn languages at school but to understand the potential value and use they can put them to 10 or 15 years down the road. My own children took two languages each and they are now starting to appreciate that they actually need them. The world is getting smaller, and inter-national communication is now a matter of course.
Does your industry offer a good future?
Yes. If you looked at the PR business 20 years ago, the main players would be on either their second or third career choice. I am the perfect example of that. Very few of us were graduates.
Today it is very different. Invariably we find we are the first career choice for university graduates. That is why we developed the intern programmes we have run here for about 10 years. We invite graduates in, offer them an internship of six to 12 months and give them the opportunity to get into the business. If they are any good we keep them, and if not we let them go, although having been at TMA at all is a good thing to have on your CV.
Because we are very selective, most of the graduates have recognised the opportunity, have used it, and many have gone on to other things. Many are in other countries, such as France, Australia and Ger-many.
Do you take graduates on every year?
If we find the right people. We don't take them on just for the sake of it. We don't have an intern at the present moment, although we are still looking.
How good is the standard of people coming forward looking for jobs now?
There is an appalling lack of basic education in the use of the English language. That applies even to university graduates, including those taking English as a first degree. They either cannot spell, or speak properly.
"I done, I seen."
A major improvement is required. People will not get past the first interview if we have any of that.
Is this a frequent experience?
Yes, and it is sad because some of the candidates I am talking about are actually extremely amiable and suitable people in every other way. But when the chief executive officer of a client company telephones, and someone either cannot take a message or speaks poorly, that reflects on us as an organisation.
Have you passed these criticisms on to the universities?
Yes, and they acknowledge the problem. They say that's the product they are being given by the schools.
Are people well prepared when they arrive for interviews?
It varies. The person who comes in and hasn't done any homework invariably shows up very poorly. It is not whether they are wearing their best clothes, but whether they have shown a little common sense by ac-quiring some information about the company. It doesn't take a great deal of intelligence to inform yourself either by going to the Mitchell Library in Glasgow, through the Internet, or even to telephone the company and explain that you would like to learn a little about it before the interview. Just ask them to send you some-thing.
What qualities do you look for?
The ability to communicate and get on with people, the simple things like being able to operate a com-puter and being well turned out. The personal habits of the person, the visual, are very important. Body pierc-ing isn't in our make-up bag, you know.
Do you get that kind of thing?
Oh yes. We have even had people coming to be interviewed, and they have dirty hair, which obviously indicates they don't care about themselves.
We just want to see people making a little bit of an effort. They don't actually have to wear Gucci but they can at least be clean and tidy.
Is a university education essential no matter what your career path these days?
It is an ideal that many people aspire to. If you are going to be a brain surgeon it is essential, of course, but not necessarily in PR, although it is preferable.
What is the key to a good interview?
Knowing how to listen as opposed to how to talk. That's from the interviewer's point of view. Most times I have a gut feeling in the first five minutes as to whether that particular person is going to go beyond our first meeting.
Which industries offer the best job prospects?
Companies with a multinational dimension, irrespective of the business they are in. Financial services, communication, IT services and, in some respects, public services. Also some of the fundamental industries like tourism and food and drink.
What irritates you?
Laziness. And I think what irritates people about me is that I don't explain things properly. My mind is in-variably going 10 times faster than my mouth.
What impresses you?
When you ask someone to do a job, and they excel. They add their own value to the job, rather than changing it to meet their own needs.
Any golden piece of advice?
Hard work, personal integrity, commitment and honesty will always deliver results for you.
John McKinlay discusses the power of communication skills with public relations expert Tony Meehan

LOAD-DATE: March 11, 2000

LANGUAGE: English

GRAPHIC: n World view: Tony Meehan believes that in the modern international environment it is vital to learn different languages.

PUB-TYPE: Paper

Copyright 2000 Scottish Media Newspapers Limited

5 of 10 DOCUMENTS

PR Week

May 3, 1996

Profile: The iron lady of Glasgow - It would take a brave heart to consider crossing swords with Flora Martin

BYLINE: By JOHN-PIERRE JOYCE

LENGTH: 686 words

When Citigate Communications revealed last week it had bought Flora Martin PR and was going to merge the company with Dunseath Citigate to form a new Scottish subsidiary, the announcement raised a few eyebrows.
Not that the merits of the deal were doubted. With a healthy fee income, a long list of clients and a strong position in the Glasgow PR market, Flora Martin PR seemed the obvious target for a company like Citigate looking to consolidate its position in Scotland. But observers did wonder how Flora Martin herself would take to being a director within a larger group after having run the show on her own for so long. 
Friendly and charming though she is, Martin has, on her own admission, a strong personality'.  She's a forthright and forcible woman and has her own views,' says one former colleague.  People either love her or hate her.
Martin's reputation for toughness has served her well in an 18-year PR career. Her working life began in 1969 as an executive officer at the MoD in Glasgow. But after nine years she began champing at the bit' for a new challenge and was introduced to Tony Meehan of PR consultancy Tony Meehan Associates.
I didn't know anything about PR,' Martin confesses.  I didn't know PR even existed. The profession didn't have the image then that it has now and I hadn't a clue what it was, but it sounded like good fun. Tony and I had a tacit agreement that if I was rotten or if I hated it then it would only be a three month appointment.'
Three months stretched to six years, during which Martin got to grips with most aspects of the PR busi-ness. By 1984 she felt confident enough to move to a larger outfit and joined PR Consultants Scotland - now Shandwick Scotland - as a senior account executive.
I needed to have my perspective broadened and I didn't have anything to benchmark myself against,' she recalls. Two and a half years later she returned as a director to Tony Meehan, whose agency had re-vamped itself as TMA Communications. Her tenure there lasted three years until differences over the firm's future direction led her to start her own consultancy.
I know now how difficult it is to allow people to take a big role when it's your business and you've brought it from nothing, and I must have been quite difficult to work with at that time,' she admits.  I was very ambitious and Tony and I decided we would part ways.'
At Flora Martin PR she has built up a staff of nine, eight of whom are women. Although she rejects the all women agency' tag as irrelevant, Martin does think that women can bring advantages to the PR business.  I think women are good at PR because they are good at juggling more than one job, and in consultancy that's important,' she says.  In some ways women are often more team spirited than men. There are less egos involved.'
She also thinks Scottish PR professionals could teach their English counterparts a thing or too about the PR business.  It's a different market,' she says.  They have a hard training up there and I think a lot of Scot-tish people that come to London are very successful because they've been in the school of hard knocks. We go all out to get the best programmes for the client without propping it up with things that I wouldn't really consider to be traditional PR disciplines. I think people expect a lot more for their money and we have to work a lot harder.'
Martin certainly plays as hard as she works. She and her husband Sandy are familiar faces on the Glasgow social scene. Until recently the couple organised an annual golf tournament for friends called the BOG classic which, by all accounts, provided some memorable moments.  I've got fabulous video footage of people trying to play golf which I've often threatened to send to Jeremy Beadle,' she laughs. And you get the feeling she probably would.
HIGHLIGHTS
1978 Account execcutive, Tony Meehan Associates
1984 Senior account executive, PR Consultants, Scotland
1986 Director, TMA Communications
1989 Managing director, Flora Martin Public Relations
1996 Director, Citigate Scotland

LOAD-DATE: September 22, 2000

LANGUAGE: English

PUB-TYPE: Magazine

Copyright 1996 Haymarket Publishing Services Ltd

6 of 10 DOCUMENTS

The Scotsman

April 25, 1996, Thursday

Dunseath pulls off public relations coup

BYLINE: John Ivison

SECTION: Pg. 22

LENGTH: 267 words

DUNSEATH Citigate, the Scottish subsidiary of the City public relations firm Citigate, has bought one of its west coast rivals, Flora Martin PR, in an undisclosed cash-and-shares deal.
The operation will become known as Citigate Scotland, with offices in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aber-deen, and will be run by the managing director, Robin Dunseath. 
Citigate remains the only City PR firm to have made any impact north of the Border, despite rumours that other firms such as Lowe Bell Financial have been looking at launching into the lucrative Edinburgh market.
The Citigate Scotland group is claiming combined fee income of £ 1.5 million, which would make it the second largest public relations company in Scotland, behind Shandwick Scotland (formerly PR Consultants Scotland) but marginally bigger than Barkers Scotland and Beattie Media.
Flora Martin PR was established in 1989 by Flora Martin, who had previously worked at Tony Meehan Associates.
The company's major clients include Pharmacia, Glenmorangie, Waverley Vintners and Maclay, Murray & Spens.
The company claimed fee income of £ 300,000 from its six fee-earning staff members in the last annual survey of the PR industry in Scotland. Citigate Scotland will have a combined staff of 31.
Dunseath Citigate was formed last November, when Dunseath Stephen, an Edinburgh public relations company set up in 1977 by Mr Dunseath and Myra Stephen, was bought by Citigate.
The deal was seen as giving Citigate a foothold in Scotland, while allowing Dunseath to move into finan-cial PR and political lobbying.

LOAD-DATE: April 25, 1996

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

PUB-TYPE: PAPER

Copyright 1996 The Scotsman Publications Ltd.