New Commercial Arts, the one-year old London agency which has already bagged Halifax, Moneysupermarket and Vodafone international among others, is opening a “hub” in Glasgow, building on its relationship with the famous Glasgow School of Art.
The new operation, housed in The Briggait (below), a former fish market in the Saltmarket area of Glasgow containing a number of creative and arts-based organisations, is part of NCA’s burgeoning customer experience offer. Its CX clients include insurance giant Zurich.
The hub will focus on focus on customer experience innovation, digital prototyping and non-traditional design and will work with the agency’s CX team in London. NCA Glasgow starts with seven staff including three Glasgow School of Art graduates. GSA, founded in the 19th century, is associated with architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh. It has produced five Turner Prize winners: Simon Starling in 2005, Richard Wright in 2009, Martin Boyce in 2011, Duncan Campbell in 2014 and Charlotte Prodger in 2018.
NCA says the move to Glasgow is talent-led. NCA co-founder and CX lead Rob Curran says: “It’s healthy to be less London-centric and this is very much about working with some exceptional and versatile talent.”
When adam&eveDDB co-founders James Murphy and David Golding set up NCA with Curran and CCO Ian Heartfield some wondered why Murphy and Golding were repeating themselves with a creative agency at a time when many were writing such agencies’ obituaries.
The CX operation seems to be the differentiator. If NCA can bring some real creativity to that tangled and frequently unsatisfactory area then a major opportunity awaits.
