Scotland the Brand
Category: Thinking pieces
About the Author
Should Scotland have a world-class national brand?
It has historical provenance and national progression. The facts are all there: romantic history - check, jaw-dropping scenery - check, national cultural and commercial heroes - check, unique national personality and products- check, unparalleled inventiveness that continues today (telephone, television, penicillin, radar, free thinking, Dolly the Sheep, Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto) - check.
But is 'Scotland the brand' communication stuck in the past?
When the BCL Edinburgh office work for our famously Scottish clients like Bank of Scotland and Famous Grouse we steer clear of tartan, caber tossing, and shortcake clichés - focusing instead on brand propositions that are as relevant today as they were in 1695 and 1897.
The biggest Scottish brand campaign in 2009 attempts to lure expats to Scotland to celebrate Robert Burns' 250th birthday. A very interesting campaign platform, but if Scotland's favourite son were alive today, I suspect he would be reaching for his pen.
http://www.homecomingscotland.com/caledonia.html
An idea with brand building potential, but execution overdone with Scottish cliché and perplexing not quite singing/not quite talking from our biggest export Mr. Connery.
Quite simply, the campaign fails to project the zeitgeist of a nation.
Flipping the execution and events to draw from the past, but more importantly celebrate Scotland as a progressive 21st century nation - well that would have been a brand campaign, "That's sweetly play'd in tune".