Caledonia Calls On Scotland’s People to Celebrate Homecoming Year
NEWS RELEASE
Friday 28th November
Sir Sean Connery, Lulu, Brian Cox and Amy MacDonald are just a few of the Scottish stars appearing in the new television advert encouraging Scotland’s people to take part in next year’s Homecoming celebrations.
As well as stars of song and screen, sporting heroes including Sam Torrance and Chris Hoy are also adding their voices to the campaign.
First Minister Alex Salmond launched the advert today at a special screening in Edinburgh’s Filmhouse, where he was joined by Eddi Reader, Sandi Thom, and Dougie MacLean whose rousing anthem is showcased in the advert.
The advert is designed to encourage people living in Scotland to invite friends and family from all over the world to “come home” to enjoy more than 200 celebratory events.
Created by VisitScotland and EventScotland, the advert was shot in various locations around Scotland including Speyside, Orkney, Dumfries and Glencoe and depicts Scottish stars each singing a line from Dougie MacLean’s moving song ‘Caledonia’. It will be broadcast across Scotland from Friday 28th November until Friday 5th December and also available to be seen on www.homecomingscotland2009.com/news/caledonia.html All the celebrities involved gave their time completely free to support the making of the advert.
As well as appearing throughout Scotland, the advert will also be placed on websites and You Tube to encourage world-wide interest. More than 2500 Diaspora groups around the world will be sent links to send out to friends and family and 1 million people in over 10 countries will be reached through this major marketing effort. The advert will also feature in cinemas and event venues across Scotland and will be played again towards the end of January to coincide with the official launch of Homecoming and the Burns Weekend celebrations.
First Minister Alex Salmond said: “Caledonia is a song that resonates with Scots the world over. For those far away it is a reminder of strong bonds, full of the promise of return. That is what makes it the perfect anthem for our Year of Homecoming.
“Next year we will be celebrating the 250th anniversary of our national bard, Robert Burns, who himself wrote a song for his native Caledonia. With over 200 events nationwide to mark the occasion this advert will sing to Scots about what we have to celebrate.
“I’m especially proud that we have a stellar line-up of Scottish talent who will deliver this invitation through this new television campaign. Sir Sean Connery, Brian Cox, Chris Hoy, Dougie MacLean, Sandi Thom, Eddi Reader, Sam Torrance, Tom Evans, Kelly Brown, Amy Macdonald and Lulu are among the Scottish talents who have given their time and support for Scotland’s year of Homecoming. I hope that across the country others will be inspired to do the same, and take the time to extend a hand to friends and family around the globe.”
Peter Lederer, chairman of VisitScotland and EventScotland said: “Homecoming Scotland offers a fantastic programme of over 200 events throughout 2009, inspired by the 250th anniversary of our national poet and international icon, Robert Burns.”
“We hope the advert and celebrations taking place next year inspire people in Scotland and remind them they come from a country that is both respected and admired throughout the world. The celebrities featuring in the advert have given their time and energy completely free of charge and we are extremely grateful to them for their interest in the project.”
-ENDS-
List of celebrities and the locations they appearing in front of are:
Edinburgh Castle – Sir Sean Connery
Strathisla Distillery, Keith, Speyside – Kelly Brown, Thom Evans, from the Scottish Rugby Team
Ring of Brodgar, Orkney – Brian Cox
Glasgow Science Centre – Chris Hoy
Turnberry – Sam Torrance
Castle Stalker - Lulu
Buachaille Etive Mhor, Glencoe – Amy Macdonald
Far Beach, Sutherland – Sandi Thom
Robert Burns Statue, Dumfries – Eddi Reader
For media enquiries, please contact:Sharon Makepeace, Press OfficerVisitScotland
Telephone: 0131 472 2432/07771 981 236
Email: Sharon.makepeace@visitscotland.com
Pager: 07785 515460 (for out of hours press enquiries)
Note to editors
- Homecoming Scotland is a Scottish Government initiative being delivered by EventScotland, (Scotland’s national events organisation) in partnership with VisitScotland (Scotland’s national tourism organisation). www.homecomingscotland2009.com
- Union in Edinburgh are the agency who have produced the advert.
- Homecoming Scotland has been inspired by the 250th anniversary of Scotland’ s national poet, Robert Burns.
- VisitScotland is Scotland’s national tourism organisation. Its core purpose is to maximise the economic benefit of tourism to Scotland.
- The organisation has three key roles:
- To market Scotland to all parts of the world to attract visitors
- To provide information – and inspiration – to visitors and potential visitors so they get the best out of a visit to Scotland
- To provide quality assurance to visitors and quality advice to the industry and partners to help the industry meet and strive to exceed customer expectations
- VisitScotland is working with the tourism industry and other partners to achieve a 50 per cent growth in tourism revenues for Scotland by 2015.
- The organisation employs over 1,000 people and has offices and tourist information centres across Scotland.
- Tourism employs 200,000 people in Scotland in 20,000 diverse businesses. The industry generates over £4 billion revenue annually. Tourism supports around 9 per cent of employment in Scotland (13 per cent in the Highlands).
- For VisitScotland’s press releases, tourism statistics and frequently asked questions go to http://www.visitscotland.org/
- For holiday information on Scotland go www.visitscotland.com
- For information about business tourism in Scotland go to www.conventionscotland.com
- Homecoming Scotland 2009 is a year long celebration of Scottish culture, heritage and some of the many great contributions Scotland has given the world www.homecomingscotland2009.com