Case study | Destination Marketing Organisations

We have been so excited to be part of Scotland’s Themed Year in 2022. Storytelling has such a deep history throughout Scotland, and particularly in the North Highlands where our landscapes, history and people are bound together in a woven tapestry of shared experience. This is what we want to delight our visitors with as they explore our places and give them a deeper understanding of who we are and where we are going.

Our aim this year was to highlight the many amazing existing resources such as storytelling sites, recordings and local storytellers both past and present. Building on this throughout the year as more resources become available and using this record to inspire future storytelling whether through our own site or working in collaboration with partners.

Some advice we would give to any businesses looking to engage with the Year of Stories is that you don’t have to put on an expensive or intricately planned event to get involved. Visitors and locals are always so delighted to hear your story as it connects them with you; the people behind the business, and deepens their feeling of understanding and belonging.

Our aim was to promote the destination outside of the peak season and have content that showed all weathers, seasons, time of day and relevant Winter and Spring experiences. Our brief was to be a little edgy and be different from the majority of tourism promo videos. Loch Ness is one of the world’s most known stories and it made sense for this to be the basis of our storyline. Every scene in the video was shot in December, sun, snow, rainbows were all just part of the weather that happened to take place that week. We believe that authenticity in every scene, showing what is possible while telling our most well-known story in a fast-paced and fun way has led to a very positive response from visitors and the industry.

We were excited at the possibilities and potential that the Year of Stories gave us to share some of our region’s most interesting, scariest, and in some cases, lesser-known tales, as well as highlighting some of the stories behind the things that make Moray Speyside world-famous like the rich family heritage underpinning brands like Baxters, Walkers and Johnstons of Elgin.

We’ve worked with local stakeholders to identify some of the stories and a professional storyteller who has helped craft attractive content which people want to read. We are not even halfway through our calendar of stories, but already we’ve had super feedback, and we’ve had additional stories brought forward as a result.

The key thing for us was getting a good balance across the content, with individuals, communities and groups having the chance to share their stories with us, and then to a wider audience.

Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire is a region steeped in rich culture, history and heritage. When we learned that VisitScotland had chosen ‘Year of Stories’ for their Themed Year 2022, the Marketing and Communications team at VisitAberdeenshire got together to plan how we could leverage the Year of Stories by inviting people who live and work in the region to share their stories of Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire. We invited the characters behind local tourism businesses to put themselves forward and share their charming and inspiring tales of what Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire means to them, and what they love most about the region. We were delighted with the response from industry – while diverse in their nature, the participants all shared one thing. Their passion for the region, the place they call home.

At the heart of 2022’s Themed Year is ‘story telling’, and we worked with local film company – Signal - on the ‘Stories from our home’ concept. Story telling conjures thoughts of bedside tales or relaxing with a book in a comfortable chair – enter… the famous yellow chair! We worked closely with Signal to create the classic storytelling environment, outdoors and at various locations around Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire. Signal transported the yellow chair on location all over the local countryside to film our characters telling their stories in their own environment.

With seven films already produced and another five under commission as of May 2022, we have been delighted with the response to our series of stories. We wanted each video to be innovative, attention grabbing and memorable whilst also invoking memories of ‘home’ and the associated comforts and through our collaboration with Signal, and our 12 local characters, we are honoured to be able to tell just some of the ‘Stories from our home.

Our engagement with Year of Stories has been to highlight the 'Characters of the Cairngorms'. We wanted to champion our communities and show the connection and inspiration they have with the landscape of the Cairngorms National Park. With the aim of inspiring visitors to explore deeper, respect our landscape and find their own connections. Every good story has an emotive element that speaks to the heart, this was at the centre of our intention.

The Year of Stories is a great opportunity for communities and businesses to come together and share their stories with a wider audience. Stories are what connect us all, so tell your story in Scotland's Year of Stories.

Storytelling has been part of life in Orkney for thousands of years, so we saw this Themed Year as a fantastic opportunity to share some of the stories that make the islands so special. From Viking sagas and tales from war-time, to the stories that have influenced Orcadian food, drink and crafts, we had a wealth of topics to focus on.

We put together a short film and blog featuring local people showcasing all the different stories found here, as well as some of our finest attractions. The aim was to promote the sites, but also to highlight that sense of mystery that surrounds them.

We wanted to touch on Orkney’s fantastic folklore too so we’ve been working with contributors to bring some of the tall tales told here to life, including a Viking’s Guide to Orkney based on the Orkneyinga Saga, and a look at some of the folklore elements of lesser-known attractions across the islands. We also helped promote a new George Mackay Brown Trail by creating a digital version of the route so people can see the places that inspired the much-loved Orcadian writer.

Scotland’s Themed Years are ideal for inspiring new content and also for getting that content seen by a wider audience. Everybody has a story to tell, whether it’s an accommodation provider or a food and drink producer, and we’d definitely encourage people to get involved and share their own.

Historically the South of Scotland has been known for its storytelling from the 14th century Border Ballads to Burns and Scott. This has developed from not only being a location to inspire stories but also to celebrate them with Book Festivals, the centre of Children’s literature at Moat Brae as well as the location for Scotland’s Book Town: Wigtown.

The announcement that 2022 was Scotland’s Year of Stories gave us the impetus to further this ambition and inspired us to develop tourism products; for our claim to have credibility we needed bookable products so visitors to the region could have something to engage with. Working with ten key tourism partners in the South, all with links to literature and stories we created a wide range of products both for the Travel Trade and the independent visitor. The initial response has been incredibly positive and has inspired us further to run a marketing campaign “Stories Start Here”.

This is only the beginning; Our Stories Resource tool will allow local communities and tourism businesses to embrace the area’s literary strengths and develop their own story experiences. Our quality products will be an exemplar for others to follow.

Scotland’s themed year gave us the opportunity and confidence to promote our regions unique strengths and we are delighted to be involved.