Latest recruits at GRP are Karen Atkinson, senior designer, and Birte Reiter, account executive.

Joining us from Nation1 in February, Karen brings significant experience in design work for the increasingly important social marketing and public sectors. Since graduating with a BDES honours degree from Dundee University’s Duncan of Jordanstone school of art and design, Karen has worked with many of Scotland’s leading design firms, including Curious Oranj, Navy Blue, 999 and Tenalps.

Birte joins GRP from Glasgow agency Atalanta, where she worked on a number of academic accounts including Cumbernauld and Perth Colleges. Birte is originally from Aurich near Bremen in Germany and studied at Glasgow Caledonian University, where she graduated with honours in media and communications. 

A belated welcome to Claire Davidson, who took over as GRP’s Digital Director shortly before Christmas and is already well established in the job. Claire has over 12 years experience in digital marketing, including 4 years as a planner for a London agency. She’s worked across all elements of the digital landscape including web, email, search, online advertising, desktop applications and mobile, and brings hands-on experience with major brands including Guinness, Johnnie Walker, Huggies, Müller yoghurt, Crown Paints and Citroen.  

Gordon began his career in FMCG sales before helping to found newton.eh6, which became the top creative award-winning design company in Scotland. Latterly Gordon has been working at Lawrence Creative on business including Abbey and various NHS accounts. Attracted by the level of resources available at GRP, Gordon will strengthen our experience in the increasingly important public sector. 

GRP’s portfolio of social marketing work continues to grow. We’ve just won a project from Glasgow City Council’s Social Work Department to recruit families and individuals to the Respite and Leaving Care services. (Respite carers welcome children from difficult backgrounds into their homes for short periods, often in order to give their families a break. As for Leaving Care, recruits will be asked to provide a longer-term home for children who are too old to stay in the council’s care homes.)  We’ll post creative work here soon. 

GRP’s latest new business win is a little out of the ordinary. We’re designing three individual spaces for 13-17 year old library users in Edinburgh. The project involves architectural and interior design, computer and gaming hardware, construction and fit-out as well as branding, graphics, and marketing. Building on the expertise in the youth market we’ve developed by working with Glasgow Community Safety Services and the NHS, it’s an example of the interactive and experiential skills we can add to our comprehensive offering to clients. Colin Murchie is now actively looking for similar work, so if you have a space that needs a new look and feel, give him a call and he’ll get his overalls on….

In the run up to Christmas, we e-mailed an interactive card to friends of GRP with an invitation to design their own snowpeople, with a prize for the best. Scores of snowbodies and snowthings were submitted to our gallery, and examples ranged from the classic to the perverse. For sheer surreal imagination, the winner is this brilliant but physically impossible design by Graham Hill of JC Roxburgh. His prize - a bottle of something rather more sophisticated than the tipple in the picture - is on the way to him.

It’s early morning on a gloomy 31st December, and a few dedicated souls have dragged themselves into GRP for the last day of the year.  As we compare notes on hangovers and laugh at each others’ Christmas jumpers, it’s time to reflect on the agency’s 21st year and look ahead to 2008.  Most of all though, it’s an opportunity to wish all our friends - whether clients, suppliers, business partners, peers, rivals or just good mates - a prosperous, happy and fulfilling New Year.  Have a great time tonight everyone.

With the Grand Prix at The Roses, Client of the Year at the Scottish Advertising Awards and the industry holy grail of a D&AD pencil (plus another ten or so other significant awards), our Be Books for NHS Trusts have picked up just about all the gongs they’ve been eligible for this year. Now there’s one more - it’s “only” a bronze for Best Publication, but it’s from Epica, the Paris-based, Europe-wide awards scheme. We’re up there with Cadbury’s Gorilla and Guiness’s Tipping Point. Now we just need to find the air fare to Stockholm in January to pick up the trophy…..

GRP’s resident serious motor sport enthusiast, Colin Murchie, organised a rather-less-than-serious evening of kart racing for 16 of us at Scotkart’s indoor track at Clydebank this week.  Amazingly, nobody was killed and it was great fun - although all three positions on the winner’s podium were taken by ringers (Marc Love’s mates Neil, Paul and Danny).  The larger gentlemen amongst us can blame weight disadvantage for poor performance, while Janet Skillen’s wooden spoon can be explained by the fact she’s a girl.  In the searing white-hot thrill of competition, we forgot to take any pictures, but you can get an idea of the event by visiting http://www.scotkart.co.uk/

We’ve won an impressive haul of awards for our NHS Be Books this year, including the industry gold standard – a D&AD “Pencil”. Last week we also picked up best copy and best art direction at the 21st anniversary Scottish Advertising Awards. Even more exciting was the fact that our client – NHS Ayrshire & Arran, Greater Glasgow & Clyde, and Lanarkshire, represented on the night by Nicky Coia and Jo Zinger – won Client of the Year.

The Client award usually goes, unsurprisingly, to big-spending private sector companies like AG Barr and Tennents. For our NHS clients to win is a testament to their bravery, commitment and faith in us for going with a controversial and challenging piece of work and sticking with it. It also shows that a relatively low-cost campaign can make big news if it’s good enough.