New Beginnings

‘So this is home now,’ I thought, as my Sunday afternoon flight touched down at Stavanger Airport. I had left an overcast Edinburgh earlier that morning, one of seven others on the journey across the North Sea.

That September, I joined a mixture of Norwegian and Scottish offshore workers, milling around the baggage reclaim area, peering from above our protective masks to catch a first glimpse of our luggage.

But this story doesn’t begin at the baggage reclaim hall at Stavanger Airport, nor does it start on the airport bus that dropped me off at my first home, just south of the city centre.

This story begins on a different Sunday afternoon, a sun-filled day in Scotland’s capital city. Myself and my now wife, then partner, had long spoken about moving to Norway, a decision due in part to her family connections with the country. Following a 10 year career spanning agency public relations, public affairs and social media, an in-house role with a UK Bank provided my existing challenge. This one Sunday, I found myself trawling Norwegian marketing and PR agencies on a whim, paired with a glass – or two – of Merlot.

One stood out.

It was Project Neon.

It’s hard to get a grasp of any organisation through their website and social channels, but Project Neon’s commitment to becoming an extension of a team was something I found particularly appealing.

All too often, there is a disconnect between agency and client. I sensed that at Project Neon, the approach taken was different.

The assumption proved correct.

At Project Neon, our work isn't just executed for the sake of it. We always take the relationship first approach. The team focuses on understanding our clients' businesses, ensuring their company's marketing and communications activities are directly aligned with their business goals.

Rather than offering clients a single piece of the marketing puzzle, we always work in partnership with our clients, operating as an extension to their business. I only need to look around the office to see the skills, expertise and commitment we bring them on a daily basis as a genuinely full-service marketing and communications team.

Starting a new job anywhere brings its own list of challenges.

Starting a new job, while moving overseas and trying to keep track of over changing travel regulations, yet more so.

But what I expected, and what took place, was much different.

While I had to work from home during my first 10 days in the job, in line with isolation rules, I immediately felt part of the team.

Yes, we’re professional, and yes, we get the job done, but there’s a great sense of community and friendship among the team. It’s a community I’m incredibly proud to be a part of.

There’s a genuine drive to do the best for our clients, paired with a constant effort to remain ahead of the curve. I can look up from my desk and know that within a couple of metres, I have marketing, social, SEO and communications’ experts to bounce ideas off. I can’t think of a better environment to work in.

As we enter 2021, there’s a great excitement around not only what we can achieve for our clients, but also what we can achieve as an agency. While there may be challenges along the way, they are challenges that we will face as team. While that’s important to stress, it’s more important to stress that it’s genuinely true.

I look forward to working with all our existing, and potentially new clients, in 2021, continuing the good work seen last year.

I’m also looking forward to more sun, or rain-filled Sunday afternoons, as the case may be here in Stavanger, albeit without the availably of ten pound bottles of Merlot. . .