The tourist agency, VisitScotland, has taken one of the top marketing prizes, in what is believed to be a Scottish first.
Says a statement issued by the agency: “VisitScotland’s marketing gurus are celebrating phenomenal success after defeating some of the UK’s biggest brands at the International Promotional Marketing Awards in London last night.
“They beat the likes of Coca Cola, Heineken, Kellogg’s and Asda to take the top award of the night, the Grand Prix – the first Scottish brand to do so.”
The statement continues: “VisitScotland is also one of only three public sector organisations to take this honour in the 40-plus-year history of the awards. Working with Edinburgh-based Blue-Chip Marketing, VisitScotland stole the show at the UK awards, taking eight honours, including four golds, for its Winter White campaign. VisitScotland was also named Brand Owner of the Year for scooping the most awards on the night.”
It's understood the Winter White, winter-holiday-in-Scotland scheme delivered £331 of tourism revenue for £1 spent on marketing it, ie an extra £66 million for the Scottish economy.
The four golds were in the Travel and Tourism, Trial and Awareness, Not for Profit and Art Direction categories. There was a silver in the Copywriting category and also a bronze in the Commercial Partnerships one.
The statement quotes Malcolm Roughead, chief executive and head of marketing at VisitScotland, as saying: “We develop inspirational marketing campaigns based on knowing our potential visitors inside out and these IPM Awards are fantastic recognition for our hard work. Up against such strong competition, it is truly fantastic that, with just one campaign, we have won in so many different categories. I would like to congratulate everyone who worked on our Winter White campaign for helping to make it such a tremendous success.”
