‘Pick a Manchester public relations consultant’

That’s the conclusion of the world’s leading PR title, PR Week… although to be fair, they are talking about breaking into the Manchester Media Maze. The feature, well featurette, is so light you do wonder if, despite all the emphasis on the importance of being based here, they actually made the journey oop north. But never mind.

Like so much, the media world is cyclical and not so long ago the Manchester media scene was sickly. The city has a great media history. Most obviously the Guardian began here as the Manchester Guardian and every national had a news (as opposed to just an ad sales) presence in the city. Sadly the Daily Mail’s grand northern HQ, is no longer with us, but look at the Express Building; a bold copy of their London HQ (there’s another in Glasgow) it’s now home to the only national newspaper published in the city, the pornographic Daily Sport. It’s not just print media that’s declined. A year ago today I was blogging the death of a once great TV industry.

Anyway. The wheel of fortune is turning again. A small but high profile Google sales office has opened in Manchester, so they obviously have media owners to talk to. More significantly, having almost emptied their Oxford Road building, the BBC is to move 1,800 workers into Manchester in an initiative expected to create a further 2,000 jobs. The Guardian Media Group still has a major presence in the city that now includes radio and innovative community television.

As Rosie Millard points out in the New Statesman often ignored by London, Manchester enjoys a higher profile in the international press. Its palaces of culture have a higher media profile in Berlin, Paris and Venice and its personalities have no trouble summoning America’s mainstream media to a get to know you session in New York.

So it’s almost certainly true. The best PR people are to be found in Manchester.

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