VisitScotland

VisitScotland, ScotRail and Beano launch jointly family campaign

Famous comic strip characters Dennis & Gnasher and Minnie the Minx are the faces of a new ‘blamazing’* tourism marketing campaign to reignite families’ love of rail adventures in Scotland. 

VisitScotland and ScotRail have teamed up with Beano for the first time to promote family holidays and day trips across the country.

The two-year campaign aims to use the cross-generational appeal of one of the UK’s best-loved comics and ScotRail’s Kids for a Quid deal, to promote sustainable travel as part of Scottish tourism’s recovery.

A special landing page - www.visitscotland.com/beano - has been created with Dennis, Gnasher and Minnie highlighting places to visit in each of Scotland’s seven cities (Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness, Perth, Stirling), including dog-friendly days out. 

Research** on the family market by national tourism organisation, VisitScotland, found that affordability, easy transport access and nostalgia are important decision-making triggers for parents considering a UK holiday destination. Of those surveyed, children had a “big influence” on the destination for one in five families.

The campaign will target UK families through digital and print marketing to promote attractions across Scotland.

It forms part of VisitScotland’s drive for sustainable tourism in line with the national tourism strategy, Scotland Outlook 2030.

The UK family market accounts for a third of all overnight and day trips in Scotland. Prior to the pandemic, overnight stays by families saw year-on-year growth since 2016, with an average 13% increase in trips on the previous year. UK families took 2.2 million overnight family holidays in Scotland in 2019 – an increase of 15% on 2018 and the highest in ten years.

Research*** also shows that families contribute the biggest share of the tourism day trip economy in Scotland. On average, UK families take around 41.1 million day trips a year in the country, generating £2.1 billion a year.

Beano is the world’s longest-running children’s comic with an average monthly readership of 450K for children aged 6-12. It also has one of the fastest-growing kids’ digital networks in the UK, centred around the award-winning beano.com reaching 5 million children each month.

ScotRail Kids for a Quid tickets means up to four children (aged 5-15) can travel for just £1 return on off-peak and weekend journeys with every paying adult. Additionally, it also gives one free child entry to some of Scotland’s most popular attractions when purchasing a full price adult ticket at the attraction.

Vicki Miller, Director of Marketing and Digital at VisitScotland, said: “The UK family market makes up around a third of Scottish tourism trips and therefore it’s important we create fun and engaging content for parents and children as part of our tourism recovery plans.  

“By working with ScotRail and Beano we aim to raise awareness of what makes Scotland a fantastic family destination and the benefits of exploring our ‘blamazing’ sights by rail. It is particularly appropriate that we should team up with one of the UK’s best-loved children’s comics during Scotland’s Year of Stories.

“The campaign will provide a creative way to further support the recovery of the tourism industry while promoting sustainable travel experiences to the benefit of visitors, communities and our environment.”

Lesley Kane, ScotRail Commercial Director, said: “This is a fantastic partnership with Beano and we are delighted to be able to play our part in helping families enjoy Scotland by train.

“Children love the train, and our Kids for a Quid offer provides real value for money. With more than 2,000 trains running every day across the country, there is no better way to give the kids an exciting day out and create new memories for your family. 

“We are looking forward to welcoming more and more people back to our services to experience all that Scotland has to offer, by rail.”

Mike Stirling, Beano’s Director of Mischief, commented: “For me, Beano has always represented the heart of Scotland's storytelling. As a kid, it was visiting new places by rail that sparked my own sense of imagination. I'd be engrossed in my comic as we left the station before glimpses of new places distracted me. On one trip, crossing the Tay Rail Bridge, a fellow passenger proudly informed me my Beano was created in my destination, Dundee. I was blown away something so cool was so close!

“The same goes for all of Scotland's seven cities. Every visit, you come away with a new story to share. Our characters are ordinary kids exploring extraordinary imaginations and I hope Minnie, Dennis and Gnasher encourage many families, pets included, to get on board and create their own memorable stories during this special year.” 

*  ‘Blamazing, blamtastic, blam to the max!’ in Beano language mean ‘awesome, incredible, epic, and perfect’ https://www.beano.com/posts/the-blamtastic-dennis-dictionary  

PICTURE ABOVE: VisitScotland and ScotRail have teamed up with Beano to promote family holidays and trips around Scotland by rail. Dennis (Alastair Hutchinson) and Gnasher surprise John and Summer Murray, with ScotRail conductor George MacLeod. 

PICTURE CREDIT: VisitScotland/Julie Howden. A Beano Studios Product (c) DC Thomson Ltd (2022) 

A campaign to generate a buzz for Dundee and the opening of V&A Dundee has received an international accolade.

The campaign activity to showcase the city and its new museum picked up a Platinum award at the HSMAI Adrian Awards on Tuesday (21 January) at the New York Marriott Marquis. Now in their 63rd year, the prestigious Adrian Awards recognise creativity and innovation in advertising, digital marketing and public relations.

Submitted by VisitScotland, the award entry was entitled "The Comeback Kid: Dundee - How Scotland's Fourth Largest City Became The King of Cool" and highlighted the increase in visitors to the city as well as key placements in target US media including New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Forbes and Vogue.

There were more than 1,100 entries for this year’s awards with all submissions eligible to win at the Gold, Silver and Bronze levels. Gold winning entries which were judged to be exceptional received Platinum status.

The award comes after independent research revealed V&A Dundee had a £75 million economic impact across Scotland in its first year. The study also found the museum had a £21 million impact on Dundee and created an estimated 370 new jobs in Dundee.

Opening in September 2018, V&A Dundee has shone a global spotlight on Dundee as a city of design, creativity and heritage. It welcomed over 833,000 visitors in its first year and has won a host of awards including a place on TIME Magazine’s list of ‘2019’s Greatest Places’.

From the initial conception to the opening of the museum, the museum represents over a decade of innovation, passion and dedication from its founding partners, funders and Dundee’s tourism industry. VisitScotland worked with key partners to ensure the city and country maximised the benefits brought by the new attraction.

VisitScotland’s marketing activity targets segments of key markets across the world to showcase Scotland’s visitor offering and give the country a renowned presence in the global marketplace to ensure the benefits of tourism are felt across the nation.

Caroline Warburton, VisitScotland Regional Leadership Director, said: “I’m delighted to see the work to showcase Dundee and V&A Dundee to the world has been recognised at the HSMAI Adrian Awards. The passion, innovation and hard work of Scotland’s tourism industry has been integral to the city and the attraction’s phenomenal success.

“At VisitScotland everything we do is about showcasing a destination and visitor experience worth talking about through innovative marketing, partnerships and events to inspire visitors to spend more time and money across the country.”

Philip Long, Director of V&A Dundee, said: “To receive such a prestigious award is a great recognition of the global impact V&A Dundee has already had, in creating a major new international cultural centre and in promoting Dundee and Scotland as world-class tourism destinations.”

Councillor John Alexander, leader of Dundee City Council, said: “This award is fantastic recognition of all the work which has been done by ‘team Dundee’ to put the city in the international spotlight.

“People from around the world are discovering what we locals know – that Dundee is a really cool place to live, work, play and visit.

“The buzz that has been created has helped bring visitors in record numbers, contributing millions of pounds to the local economy and supporting thousands of jobs.

“We’ll continue to shout about our city and encourage people to not only visit but stay for a while and discover the culture, adventure, nightlife and so much more that Dundee has to offer.”

To learn more about the HSMAI Adrian Awards go to https://adrianawards.hsmai.org/  

To find out more about Dundee and V&A Dundee go to www.visitscotland.com/destinationsmaps/dundee/  

For more information on VisitScotland and its work to grow tourism sustainably across Scotland, go to www.visitscotland.org