VisitScotland’s Friendly Faces of Scotland campaign launches

VisitScotland’s latest campaign – this time a £1.25 million job targeted on Europe, centres on a random – well, sort of – selection of fifteen ‘friendly faces’ from across Scotland. Each of these will introduce themselves and then talk about their area of Scotland and what they think are its key attractions for visitors.

Batting for Argyll are those who carry its name into the social stratosphere few inhabit – the Duke and Duchess of Argyll, who now live with their family at Inveraray Castle, historic seat of Clan Campbell.

Together the chosen ‘faces’ cover heritage, through two of Scotland’s great clans – ironically the historically opposed Campbells and MacDonalds; music festivals, whisky; wildlife tourism; golf; piping; heavy athletics; ferry travel; kiltmaking; Nessie; bars and restaurants; hotels and B&Bs.

Geographically they represent Aberdeen, Argyll, Dornoch, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Loch Ness, Skye and West Highlands. While of course you can’t construct a campaign on the basis of comprehensive inclusivity, the lower visibility in the campaign of the majestic Borders region is perhaps a strange omission.

The full list of ‘friendly faces’ includes:

• Duke and Duchess of Argyll
• Donnie MacDonald, West Highland ferryman
• Cameron McLachlan, Glasgow barman
• Evelyn McLennan, Dornoch-based owner of Kyleview House B&B
• Tony Singh, restaurateur and chef at Oloroso, Edinburgh
• Lady Claire Macdonald, chef, writer and hotelier at the Michelin-starred Kinloch Lodge, Skye – and married to the Chief of Clan Macdonald
• Finlay MacDonald, award-winning piper and head of piping studies at the National Piping Centre, Glasgow, with links to Celtic Connections music festival
• Jamie Barr, elite world-class strongman whose titles include Strongest Man in Scotland, Britain and Europe
• Howie Nicholsby,  ‘kiltmaker to the stars’
• Gary Forbes, head golf professional at Murcar Links, Aberdeen
• Adrian Shine, designer of the award-winning Loch Ness Exhibition
• Julia Trevisan-Hunter, whisky expert and marketing manager at the five-star Scotch Whisky Experience in Edinburgh’s Royal Mile
• Derek Watt, concierge at the elite Prestonfield House, Edinburgh
• Caroline Warburton, wildlife expert who runs Wild Scotland, a consortium of Scottish wildlife tourism operators

The essential shallowness of the marketing and advertising industry is somehow evident in what David Isaac, creative director at Edinburgh advertising agency, Family, told today’s Herald:  ‘You can only show lochs and glens so many times before you need a fresh angle. Previous campaigns may have missed this and the new approach is laudable.’

That speaks for the paucity of imagination and understanding that has dogged VisitScotland campaigns. The agency behind this effort is the Grey Group. We can only hope that each of the 15 advocates speaking for their part of Scotland can tell a better story of it than the national tourism agency has yet been able to do.

The campaign is to be carried in advertising campaigns across Europe and will appear on dedicated foreign-language websites.

However, as with its recent campaign promoting golf in Scotland, VisitScotland’s own website as yet carries no mention of this new campaign.

If it is to feature in foreign language websites, why can it not feature on its own website? Visitors to the website from anywhere in the world should be able to access current campaigns and Scots will be interested to see what their regional advocates have to say.