Fortune favours the Brave

It was the blockbuster of summer 2012, capturing the imagination of adults and children across over 70 countries and promoting Scotland on an unprecedented level.  Now VisitScotland is counting the success of the Oscar winning animated adventure, Brave just over a year after its release.

Recent research shows that thousands of visitors are likely to visit Scotland over the next five years having seen the film - representing £120 million* worth of business to Scotland.

The study also reveals that VisitScotland/Brave marketing activity reached around 82million people in the UK, North America and Europe through the TV advertising campaign; 505 million people worldwide through editorial; and over 6 million through social media (Facebook, Twitter and YouTube). 

The film is well on its way to achieving the £140 million target of additional spend over 10 years set out by VisitScotland at the start of their joint campaign with Disney in 2011.

On top of that, visitor attractions associated with the film and hotels included within a special Disney adventure tour have also been cashing in on the film.

United States and Canadian guests on the Scotland: A Brave Adventure tour spend time in the Kingsmill Hotel in Inverness, the Balmoral Hotel in Edinburgh and the Cuillen Hills Hotel in Skye as part of a nine day tour visiting the stunning Scottish landscapes and exciting experiences enjoyed by Princess Merida in Brave.

Attractions such as Dunnottar Castle (the inspiration for Dunbroch Castle in the film) and the Callanish Stones have both reported significant increases in visitors this summer of circa 16% and 10% respectively with the interest in Brave a principle reason behind the rise.

VisitScotland teamed up with Disney for a unique partnership to promote Scotland on the back of Brave in 2012.  The success of Adventures by Disney’s very first Scottish holiday package has demonstrated that people have been inspired to visit the country after watching the film.

Bruce Austin, Adventures by Disney Manager for Asia, Africa, Australia and Europe, said:

“Our 2013 season has proven to be an outstanding success, both in terms of the numbers of guests we've booked but also the wonderful experience we've delivered to them in Scotland on our Brave Adventure itinerary.”

Such has been the success of Scotland: A Brave Adventure, that Disney is already reporting hundreds of Americans already booked for 2014, each place costing several thousand dollars.

Bruce added: “We believe that ‘word on the street’ has our Scotland trip rated highly for both quality and value in our product mix, so we continue to see a strong presence of repeat Adventures by Disney guests continuing to book the destination. We're bringing first-timers into the product as well, and there I believe (looking at family names on the guest manifests) we detect a hint of yearning to visit the ancestral homeland.”

Mike Cantlay, Chairman of VisitScotland, said:

“This is just the beginning of how VisitScotland plans to maximize on Brave.  One of the reasons we were so determined to work with Disney was that the movie was dubbed into every relevant language across the world, an ideal vehicle to reach emerging markets.  What’s more, Brave is primarily targeted at a young, influential audience. I genuinely anticipate Scottish tourism benefitting from this movie well into the 2020s.

“As well as the Brave Adventures by Disney which have been hugely popular, the thing that inspires me the most are the projects and initiatives that smaller tour operators and companies have started off their own backs.  To be successful in this industry we have to grab every opportunity like Brave which comes our way and this is what we will continue to do in 2014 when Scotland Welcomes the World with the Commonwealth Games, Ryder Cup and Homecoming.”

Fergus Ewing, Tourism Minister, said:

“The global success of Brave has been a great boost to Scotland’s tourism sector. Brave has increased international awareness of Scotland and showcased the magnificent historic sites and beautiful landscapes that our country has to offer. I’m delighted by the success of the film and the boost we expect it to continue to bring to the economy.

THE BRAVE EFFECT ‘AT A GLIMPSE’

• Kingsmills Hotel in Inverness, is part of Disney’s Scotland: A Brave Adventure tour.  In 2013, these tours have produced 846 room nights for the hotel with 1469 Disney guests bringing revenue of around £158,652.  This was new business for  the hotel for 2013. 
• Crieff Hydro came up with ‘Hydro Legend Training’ for children - a package which encompassed horse riding, archery and bushcraft sessions.  The promotion was offered during July and August 2012 and featured on the website and in promotional materials throughout the summer. 
• Qualified Scottish Blue Badge Guide Laura Matuszak set up her own tour company ‘Celebrate Scotland’ in 2010 and came up with an exciting new itinerary based on Brave. Laura leads tours throughout Scotland and creates bespoke itineraries, designed to suit any budget, timescale and individual or group type.
• New family friendly and Brave product developed by VisitScotland international partners contributed to overall target of £22M of new leisure product for 2012/13
• Adventures by Disney doubled departure numbers due to demand (contributing £500K to the Bed Night Study) and plan to brochure the Brave product in the long term. 
• For the periods Dec 2011-Jun 2012 and Dec 2012-Jun 2013: VS.com saw an approx 41% increase (from 97,682 to 137,400) in visits by Brave-related keywords post-Brave campaign. Keywords are: Highland, Archery, Castle, Standing Stone, Horse Riding, Movie.

Additional performance metrics are as follows:

• Visits to Brave website - 1.7m
• Tourism businesses engaged - 1000
• In kind supported secured - £45,000
• Estimated additional spend by 2016 - £121m
• Referrals to partners* - 32,610
• Data acquisition** - 215,000
• TV Campaign Reach - 82,000,000
• Editorial Reach - 505m
• Facebook - English 5m /Foreign Language 800,000
• You Tube video views - 580,000
• Twitter tweets -1875
• Online impressions*** - UK 6.29m (72,445 visits to web)
• Online impressions - NA 44.2m (80k visits to web)
• Online impressions - Europe 239m (787k visits to web)

-ENDS-

* The figure is based on interviews with domestic and international visitors who stated they would plan to visit Scotland in the next five years as a result of the film*. VisitScotland carried out an evaluation/conversion study of the Brave international and domestic marketing campaigns.  This evaluation study identified the additional spend from visitors who had visited Scotland in 2012 having booked a visit to Scotland after being influenced by the Brave campaign / visiting the Brave website.  VisitScotland’s additionality target was based on a five-to-ten-year period. The evaluation study also identified those individuals who said they would be ‘likely to visit in the next 12 months’ and those who would be’ likely to visit in the next 2 - 5 years’.

For more information or interview requests, please contact:

Kate Turnbull, Corporate Press Manager

0131 472 2324 / 07854 401040

kate.turnbull@visitscotland.com