Game on
You may have seen the billboard advertising for the latest games ‘sensation’ which is out just in time for the peak selling season. Red Dead Redemption 2, featuring the old American west, is the latest product from Rockstar North, the team behind the phenomenally successful Grand Theft Auto series.
The numbers around the company are as mind-blowing as some of the action: GTA made $6 billion and the new game is so big it had to draw on the skills of creatives in four countries in nine studios, the largest of which is Rockstar’s head office in the former offices of The Scotsman newspaper in Edinburgh.
The company is notoriously private as Daily Business found out when we were sternly asked why we were even outside the building, still named Barclay House in honour of the newspaper’s former owner, in Holyrood Road.
BBC tech programme Click also tried to get a tour but found out that secrecy is so tight that it was only allowed to film the trophy cabinet.
However, its reporter did get a rare chance to speak to one of its top people, producer Rob Nelson who said they were trying to inject realism and believability into the product. A bit like the Scotsman, then.
Erikka goes plural
Speaking of The Scotsman, or at least one of is former business writers, Erikka Askeland has left Hollicom, the PR agency set up by former Daily Record and Sunday Mail executive Mark Hollinshead last year.
Ms Askeland, who also spent a successful spell as Business Editor at the P&J in Aberdeen, joined Hollicom in Glasgow as strategic communications director and now says she has “gone plural”.
“I’ve set up ABZ Mediacraft and am working with a number of clients – Hollicom is one of them. I really enjoyed working in Glasgow but this change gives me more time at home in Aberdeen,” she says, adding that “the central belt hasn’t seen the last of me”.
Also in PR land, Pagoda, has been appointed by legal firm, Gillespie Macandrew following a competitive pitch. The account will be managed by senior account director, Holly Russell.
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