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Hamish Macdonell: Great message – shame target audience won't see it

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Published Date: 02 December 2008
THERE is a scene in the new Homecoming 2009 advertisement in which Sir Sean Connery looks directly into the camera and purrs: "Let me tell you that I love you." He pauses, raises one eyebrow and adds: "And I think about you all the time." That is the moment when women will go weak at the knees in cinemas all over the United States and Canada – or they would, if they were ever going to see the advert.
The Scottish Government and VisitScotland have put together a fabulous little commercial to promote next year's Homecoming. Based around Dougie MacLean's Caledonia, it features a a series of celebrities and sports stars singing a line each from the s...



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  • Last Updated: 02 December 2008 2:58 AM
  • Source: The Scotsman
  • Location: Edinburgh
  • Related Topics: Homecoming
 
1

TomCayman,

George Town 02/12/2008 02:31:45
One major inaccuracy in this piece. I'm pretty apolitical, so this is not a political point, but it was not the SNP who thought this up, Homecoming Scotland was in the works well before the May 2007 election, and in fact a big splash was made about it at the Globalscot conference in Edinburgh in Sep 2006.

I do agree that the ad is great and definitely very well targetted at the audience (for expat Scots they have chosen the definitive anthem... Caledonia), but for such a woefully underfunded national tourism agency as VisitScotland, I wonder if the writer did their homework on how VS allocates their direct marketing budget any better than they did their homework on the origins of the Homecoming Scotland idea ?

Frankly, I don't know if the budget is there to target the diaspora on TV, but I very much doubt it.

I do think they have been slow off the mark in launching it through other means though. The best marketing campaign of the "Web 2.0" era was Obama 2008, utterly masterful and co-ordinate use of YouTube, Facebook, iPhone apps and on and on.

VS and Homecoming Scotland need to do more of that, as right now their own posting of the ad on YouTube has under 7,000 views...not exactly a big viral campaign.. but there is still time....
2

Mercutio,

FALKIRK 02/12/2008 08:18:50
I remember visiting the local cinema after returning home from the USA.There was a really good advert from "Visit Scotland" urging the audience to come to Scotland on holiday.
The bureaucrats know HOW to spend money but spending it wisely NO!
3

Barbara Clark,

VisitScotland 02/12/2008 08:27:33
I'd just like to clarify the point you make about people in America and their access to the new Caledonia advert. VisitScotland is sending this advert to over one million people across the world as part of its e-communications. It has also been sent ot 2500 diaspora groups with an instruction for them to send it on to friends and family. Budgets will not allow us to develop a world-wide television advertising campaign but by cleverly using You Tube and other electronic means we will reach millions.
4

Mr. Lachie Todd,

Edinburgh 02/12/2008 09:20:04
According to The American-Scottish Foundation of New York the Homecoming advert has already been aired on coast-to-coast television in the USA?
5

Douglas Eckhart,

02/12/2008 11:15:01
'Homecoming 2009 is a great idea. It was dreamed up by the Nationalists last year, partly to boost tourism'-
---------------------------------

This is WRONG!

Homecoming 2009 was anounced by the previous Lab/Lib Dem administration!
The new SNP administration simply carried it through!

How can the Scotsman make such an obvious error???
Bad journalism.

PS the reason the advert isnt paid to be shown on foreign tv stations is that the high cost wold be criticised by the moaners and complainers, including this newspaper.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't.



6

Gdgy,

02/12/2008 13:51:15
Is the Visit Scotland staffer doing her job, bloggin on this forum?
What a great job! Playing on your computer rather than having a real job....
Could be sorting out the embarassment that is the VS website....

 

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