The Famous Grouse launch the famous St Andrew’s day celebrations

9 November 2009 - The Famous Grouse, Scotland’s favourite whisky, has announced further details of activity in the run up to St Andrew’s Day, which will encourage Scots to observe their national saint’s day with a proper knees-up. Forming part of the Winter Grouse Season, The Famous Grouse have invested in a support package to give the on trade all they need to create a festival atmosphere on Scotland’s national day.

A major campaign of consumer engagement to persuade whisky fans to come forward and share their favourite thing about Scotland, whether it’s something that makes them smile, something that makes them proud or a unique Scottish experience, is to be launched at www.3011makeitfamous.com. Here users can share their favourite, upload a photo and find a local pub participating in St Andrew’s Day celebrations.

Teams will be hitting Glasgow Central and Edinburgh Waverly train stations on the 17th and 19th November to invite commuters to join the campaign and create a photo mosaic of their suggestions in the form of a giant saltire.

From Thursday 26th through to Monday 30th November, The Famous Grouse is inviting Scots to celebrate in 860 selected outlets which will be dressed with traditional bunting, posters, table talkers, outdoor banners and flags. The top 40 top bars in key cities including; Aberdeen, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Perth, Stirling and Falkirk will feature handpicked bands which will perform in each venue over the five days to get the crowds in the spirit with a mixture of upbeat Scottish classics and modern hits.

The shindig will culminate with the much loved four piece Ceilidh band Kilter taking over Glasgow venue Òran Mór on St Andrew’s Day. The band which consists of accordion, pipes and whistles, piano and drums, is a favourite at the The Famous Grouse tent at Murrayfield stadium during the six nations where they regularly play to a packed out dance floor.

All venues taking part will benefit from a dedicated PR campaign, a listing as part of a wider sponsorship package in Daily Record’s St Andrew’s Day supplement and online survey on dailyrecord.co.uk.

As well as POS kits and entertainment, The Famous Grouse is running a promotional mechanic offering consumers the chance to redeem a branded scarf is to encourage trial and reward loyalty.

Linda Sooprayen, Brand Manager for Maxxium UK, said: “We really want to encourage Scots to recapture the spirit of the country’s national day. This provides an excellent opportunity for trade stockists to present the best aspects of Scottish hospitality and create a real sales drive over this festival period.”

This activity comes on the back of the announcement of the ‘Winter Grouse Season’, the most comprehensive package of marketing activity yet from The Famous Grouse. Expected to be the highest investment in marketing activity within its competitive set, this package to support the trade runs not only during the vital sales period over Christmas but all the way through from November to March.

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