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

Published on Monday 1 December 2008 21:38

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 song in front of iconic pictures from Scotland's landscape.

Thom Evans, formerly a member of boy band Twen2y4Se7en and now a Scotland rugby internationalist, takes part with his colleague Kelly Brown, as do Chris Hoy, Eddi Reader, Sam Torrance, Brian Cox, Amy Macdonald, Sir Sean and Sandi Thom, who has recorded her own version of Caledonia for next year's events.

The commercial lasts only one minute and it is true that Lulu does kind of go off at the end in an Aretha Franklin way that was not really in the MacLean original, but, even with that, it is a remarkably effective piece of emotional advertising. It is more than a bit kitsch, but the North Americans would love it.

It is just what is needed to kickstart Homecoming and get the Scottish diaspora to come to Scotland next year. So why on earth is it only going to be shown in Scotland? There are no plans to show it in the United States or Canada or Australia or New Zealand or, indeed, any place where there is a Scottish diaspora. There will be discussions on possibly showing it in England at a later stage, but even that prospect is remote.

The only people who will see it at the cinema don't need to be converted to the idea of Homecoming, because they are already here.

According to the First Minister's office, this strategy of not showing the advertisement where it would actually do some good is part of a cunning plan. The idea is to generate media publicity in places such as North America and New Zealand free, without paying for the advert to go out. Ministers also expect Scots to send e.postcards (isn't that something you send from Yorkshire?) to their absent families and friends, spreading the advert around that way.

But why go to so much effort, to produce something so effective, and then not use it?

Homecoming 2009 is a great idea. It was dreamed up by the Nationalists last year, partly to boost tourism and partly to spread the news about the election of an SNP government, but, because of the economic downturn, it has become much, much more important.

It could give the Scottish tourist industry the spark it needs to outperform its rivals next year, when the economy will be at its lowest ebb. In fact, it almost looks inspired.

That just makes the decision to produce such a populist and emotive advert and then refuse to show it abroad all the more baffling.

The First Minister's office said cost was a factor in the decision not to show the advert outside Scotland and that the bill for putting on television abroad would eat into the overall budget for Homecoming 2009. But what is that budget for if not to get the Scots diaspora back here and spending money?

VisitScotland is justifiably proud of its record in generating tourist spend – every pound spent on overseas marketing makes 25 of tourist spend here. If that is the case, then it does not really matter if advertising in North America costs money, because it will generate about 25 times as much in spend in Scotland next year.

But this is not just an isolated episode. Cinema-goers in Scotland are regularly bombarded with slick VisitScotland advertisements – "live it, love it, spin it", that sort of thing.

They are good-quality products, but why on earth are they being shown in Scotland? Talk about preaching to the choir, as the Americans would say… if they ever got to see the advertisements, that is.

I rang VisitScotland yesterday to get its side of the story, and this was the recorded message left for callers: "You have reached the offices of VisitScotland. We are now closed to celebrate the St Andrew's Day national holiday. We will reopen on Tuesday, 2 December. Thank you for calling."

Actually, this "national holiday" on St Andrew's Day is only an extra holiday for Scottish Government employees. VisitScotland, as a government agency, is entitled to share in this largesse, so its staff took the day off yesterday, along with civil servants.

At a time when almost every private-sector business in the country is having to reassess budgets, trim expenses and increase output for the same amount of return, it does seem daft for the public sector to go the other extreme and decide that government employees should have an extra day's holiday.

The Scottish Government has done very well in coming up with the idea of Homecoming 2009; it has managed to achieve some momentum behind it and, together with VisitScotland, it has created a rather cheesy but very effective advertisement to sell the idea to those at which it is aimed – the Scottish diaspora.

But, having achieved all that, ministers and tourist managers have decided to take it no further. Not only that, they seem to think it's all right to shut up shop for a day at a time when every other tourist organisation and rival government is working doubly hard to win over the same market.

The worst possible outcome, at the end of Homecoming 2009, would be for those in charge to look back and say: maybe we could have done more; maybe we could have spent more and sold the idea better. But unless they change tack, they are in danger of doing exactly that.