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Stunning new VisitScotland advert highlights Year of Creative Scotland 2012

VisitScotland has today (Wednesday) launched its latest Surprise Yourself television advert to mark the start of the Year of Creative Scotland 2012.

Unveiled at Edinburgh Castle by Fiona Hyslop MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Culture and External Affairs, the advert will support the year-long celebration and promotion of Scotland’s cultural and creative strengths on a world stage.

Directed once again by renowned Glasgow-born photographer David Eustace and voiced by popular television historian Neil Oliver, the advert features everything from the Pittenweem Arts Festival to a dazzling Northern Lights display in Shetland, highlighting Scotland’s wealth of creative activity, including a performance of Macbeth at Glamis Castle, the Edinburgh International Festival, and Robert Burns storytelling in Ayrshire.

The new advert, which is part of a £4m campaign and includes additional funding by the Scottish Government, will be broadcast for the first time on television on Friday January 13. It is part of VisitScotland’s highly successful Surprise Yourself campaign which last year generated additional tourism income of £90m for the Scottish economy. This year’s campaign will continue to focus on the country’s surprising twists on familiar backdrops while also showcasing its well-known culture and creativity.

The Culture Secretary said: “Scotland is a creative nation and our culture is one of our greatest strengths. Our wealth of world-class events, festivals, cultural collections and organisations are already a major draw for visitors and the Year of Creative Scotland 2012 offers the opportunity to highlight new ways to see and experience this in every corner of Scotland. VisitScotland’s spectacular new advert is a fantastic way to promote this year-long celebration of our culture and creativity that is taking place in communities right across the country.”

VisitScotland Regional Director for Aberdeen City and Shire, Shona Anderson said: “We are entering a tremendously exciting time for Scottish tourism. The Year of Creative Scotland heralds the start of the Winning Years - a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity featuring eight major events and milestones, including the release this summer of Disney-Pixar’s Brave and the Olympic Games in London. By highlighting some of the highly dynamic and contemporary things Scotland has to offer, our stunning new television advert will capture the imagination of millions of potential visitors and help ensure that the Winning Years get off to a winning start.

“As visitors to Aberdeen City and Shire discover every year, the region is full of pleasant surprises, and this campaign focuses on presenting the surprising twists on familiar Scottish backdrops. The fireball festival in Stonehaven featured in the advert last year.”

The Year of Creative Scotland 2012 is a Scottish Government initiative in partnership with EventScotland, VisitScotland, Creative Scotland and VOCAL. Through a dynamic and exciting year-long programme of activity celebrating the country’s world-class events, festivals, culture and heritage, the year puts Scotland’s culture and creativity in the international spotlight with a focus on cultural tourism and developing the events industry and creative sector in Scotland.

The new TV advert will be shown throughout the UK until the middle of March and is part of a campaign which will see the spotlight on the Year of Creative Scotland throughout 2012, investing over £4 million in the first six months of 2012 to encourage potential visitors from within the UK to take a trip to Scotland. The campaign includes using a direct mail campaign to nearly ½ million people, promotions with media partners and well known brands, radio activity featuring Neil Oliver and online activity encouraging people to go to visitscotland.com/surprise and take advantage of over 300 offers from tourism businesses across Scotland.

Highlights of the Year of Creative Scotland 2012 programme include innovative collaborations between the tourism and culture sectors such as:

• Traquair House in the Scottish Borders will host a Celebration of Contemporary Scottish Printmaking between July and September 2012. Working in partnership with Edinburgh Printmakers, the Celebration will introduce contemporary printmaking to a wider audience and support tourism development in the Scottish Borders. An ambitious series of commissions reflecting the historic surroundings of Traquair House, alongside a new visitor programme will improve local residents’ and incoming visitors’ access to high-quality new work in print.

• The City of Literature Trust will enlighten the streets of Edinburgh in early 2012 with spectacular building-sized dynamic projections, using material from the Scottish Enlightenment period, through their enLIGHTen project.

• Plans to create a RockNess Express, a bespoke train service to the annual Rock Ness festival from Kings Cross station featuring on-board music and the best of Scottish food and drink.

• Extensive international promotion of Scottish creativity and culture: Scotland’s largest traditional music festival, Celtic Connections, will head to Chicago in September 2012, as the Ryder Cup takes place at the nearby Medinah Country Club. The trip will be an opportunity to showcase the best of Scottish music and attract international visitors to Celtic Connections 2013 as part of a wider Scottish presence in Chicago.

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