Applicant: Visit Arran
Location: Isle of Arran
Total Funding Awarded:  £31,978

"It's worth spending time in the early stages planning in detail far enough in advance to avoid surprises or delays."
Maureen McKenna - Visit Arran

A group of some fifty businesses have come together with the aim of promoting and managing tourism on the Island of Arran. Coordinator Maureen McKenna highlights her involvement with the Challenge Fund process.

THE CREATIVE SPARK

“Visit Arran was set up as a group in January 2007, having evolved from Destination Arran, a partnership of private and public sector organisations. Challenge Funding was important in respect of timing for Visit Arran. It came at the time Visit Arran moved to become a structured limited company and helped us ramp up the gears as we moved towards a more professional approach.

We created a Tourism Development Plan for three to five years, which includes Challenge Fund applications. It pulls everything into a more formal business plan and means we’re all working toward the same goals. Challenge Funding is essential to allow things to go forward.

The fact that the Challenge Fund doesn’t allow repeat activity is not a huge problem for us, as we’re always fairly successful at pitching new ideas in innovative ways!

FROM INSPIRATION TO REALITY

We worked closely with a group of consultants, experienced in destination management, to create a branding for the new company, along with innovative marketing ideas. Our consultants were already well-versed in Challenge Fund applications, so they were able to effectively and quickly undertake the necessary research required for the application.

Our consultants’ level of knowledge of the process proved invaluable in ensuring the success of our applications. We got good feedback from VisitScotland about our applications, with relevant questions arising from our applications. It’s VisitScotland’s job to challenge the fund awards and check you’ve thought things through properly. It was a useful stage in the process for us.

Our first application was built around the new brand to underpin the marketing activity going forward. We held a branding workshop to help kick off the island brand development. After creating the brand and deciding on marketing activity, we created the Tourism Development Plan for three to five years. Various Challenge Fund projects are planned, including search engine optimisation, spring break and PR campaigns and direct mail to database contacts.

It’s worth spending time in the early stages planning in detail far enough in advance to avoid nasty surprises or delays. For us, activity in the first funding round took longer than expected. We’d submitted a subsequent fund application while undertaking work from the first award and we had to push back activity for the second one due to lack of available time.

We didn’t really have much contact with our local Challenge Fund Advisor the first time, as our consultants’ level of Challenge Fund knowledge was so extensive. However, I am now in touch with the Advisor much more with subsequent funding rounds and find the contact useful for cutting through any bureaucracy.

We’re currently at the monitoring stage. The requirements are quite target based; value of spend, number of visitors, that sort of thing. While these are not onerous in volume, it’s hard to know how best to assess the information needed. The good thing with Challenge Funding is that, from the outset, groups know they have to evaluate results.

There is already a culture of collaboration on the island, such as Taste of Arran. The consultants also brought their own particular expertise to the table. It’s a good mix and one that works well.

It’s important to have a central person as the focus for activity and meet key dates. That is what I do and it is now a part-time job for me. I’m the person on the ground who keeps the flow going!

THE REAL BOOST

There has been a benefit to the group as a whole of working at a more professional level. More of the group see benefits on the island as well. We’ve retained a PR firm, which has produced quite a chunk of work and coverage.

As we had an existing working relationship with VisitScotland, there’s been no real change for us, just a different way of working with them. We’re in regular contact with VisitScotland Prestwick, which helps strengthen that local link.

We’re actively putting systems in place to monitor our more recent activity. For example, accommodation providers now request a booking reference from enquirers. Our website is performing increasingly well; 40% up month on month. Usage is increasing as well and we’re zooming up the Search Engine Optimisation rankings, so it’s all proved very effective so far.”