Scotland’s Pubs and Bars – A Story to Tell

CHAPTER 1 – The beginning
Pubs have always played an integral role within Scottish tourism. As the 2011/12 Visitor Survey shows, an average of 30% of visitors to Scotland will visit a pub during their stay.

Despite this, pubs have not always been seen as integral to the Scottish tourism industry and unlike Ireland there has not been a promotion which specifically promotes pubs and what they have to offer visitors to Scotland. The trade partners identified that there was indeed an opportunity to actively promote pubs as key players in both the tourism industry and the pub industry in Scotland as well as pro-actively communicating with visitors. Particularly in 2014 when Scotland will be welcoming the world with Homecoming, the Commonwealth Games and the Ryder Cup.

Bright Light Marketing were appointed in 2013 by the three partners to produce a detailed Marketing Plan which identified that there was an opportunity for a pub promotion to visitors, who the campaign should be targeted at, the key messages and communication tools that should be used as well as looking at background research and how the campaign should be measured. This built a solid case for why this campaign was worthy of applying for the VisitScotland Growth Fund, which the promotion successfully achieved in Autumn 2013.

CHAPTER 2 – Getting started
Since then Bright Light Marketing have been working towards launching the consumer campaign in April 2014. The first stage was to get more than 100 pubs into the campaign by the end of 2013. We are delighted that target was exceeded and we have confirmed a wide range of pubs with a great story to tell, from the inn on Skye where Bonnie Prince Charlie met Flora Macdonald for the last time to the Highland scene of Hagrid’s Hut in the Harry Potter movies, the pub in Dumfries where Robert Burns inscribed verses of poetry into window panes to the Glasgow venue where Oasis was signed.

From the Highlands and the Islands to the Lowlands and our great cities, our pubs are the cornerstone of our communities and represent an experience that is uniquely and proudly Scottish. As well as places to have fun, meet locals and learn more about this great country, our pubs and bars are individual characters in their own right, each with a story to tell.

CHAPTER 3 – Getting ready
We are now at the implementation stage of the campaign which involves production and delivery of the key communication tools that will be used and have been working with a great team of partner agencies. Here’s what has been achieved so far.

Brand Identity – the Scotland’s Pubs and Bars brand has been developed and applied to all communication tools ready for launch.

App – the dedicated Scotland’s Pubs and Bars App is now at the testing stage getting ready for April launch, meaning visitors can access all the stories whilst on the move free of charge.

Website – development of a dedicated and interactive website is now at an advanced stage, content and copy are finalised and search mechanisms are all in place.

Social media – daily Facebook and Twitter activity will play a vital part in telling the stories and engaging with visitors in as interactive a way as possible.

Press and PR – an imaginative press and PR campaign is planned for both the launch as well as activity being rolled out throughout the year.

Promotional Print – These cards are being used in bulk at nearly 200 key sites from April till October including visitor information centres, airports, prime visitor attractions, train stations, distilleries and car rental depots throughout the country.

Beer Mats – Scotland’s Pubs and Bars beer mat sets have been produced, each of the 12 beer mats features a different ‘Whats the story?’ category and aims to encourage people to visit the website and download the free App.

Branded goods – Promotional t-shirts and stickers will be used at participating pubs and via social media and press and PR as prizes.

CHAPTER 4 – Launch date
These communication tools are all in place for the campaign launch date of 21 April.

Bright Light Marketing have enjoyed working on the project immensely and are now looking forward to going live and delivering the campaign, so that we can tell as many stories as possible to visitors and encourage them to visit our pubs and bars throughout the year.

Discover the stories for yourself at www.scotlandspubsandbars.co.uk 
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