14 Sep 11

VisitScotland - Burns Festival

The annual Burns Festival at Ayr Racecourse celebrates the Scottish poet's birthday.

Background
In 2007 the line-up included Deacon Blue, The Saw Doctors and Marti Pellow. Recognising the broad appeal of this line-up VisitScotland was keen to promote the Festival to a new, younger and more diverse audience.

How MediaCom made a difference
MediaCom took to the streets to question the people of Edinburgh on their perceptions of the Festival.  Many responded favourably but only once details of the Festival had been made real to them. In order to stimulate interest, MediaCom proposed a bespoke outdoor solution: real-life buskers, sponsored by VisitScotland, entertaining on the streets of Edinburgh across the May Bank Holiday. These were supported by on-street promotional teams, who were on hand to deliver a deeper communication about the event and drive ticket sales.

Results
As a Scottish media first, this prompted PR coverage in both national and trade press titles, including media industry website Brand Republic. “The Buskers did an excellent job in getting people’s attention, and highlighting the excellent music on offer at the festival”.

Please click on the link on the right hand side of this page for the full case study.