Highland Park celebrates fourth year of book festival sponsorship.

Highland Park single malt, distributed by Maxxium UK, has once again teamed up with the Edinburgh International Book Festival (August 15-31) as the headline sponsor of the Book Festival’s iconic venue, the Spiegeltent.

This is the fourth year that Maxxium UK has implemented the sponsorship which is focused on delivery of a strategic sampling activation programme amongst an audience of over 200,000 book lovers. The Highland Park Spiegeltent, a striking 20th century Belgian wooden tent which houses the Festival’s bar and cafe, is the main venue for the sampling programme where visitors attending events will be able to enjoy a free dram of award winning Highland Park 12 year old single malt.

Highland Park is also sponsoring special events with high profile Scottish authors Ian Rankin, Alexander McCall Smith and Christopher Brookmyre. Head of Brand Education, Gerry Tosh, will be hosting two exclusive whisky masterclasses which have been a sell out success for the past four years. It is anticipated that almost 15,000 samples of the Orcadian single malt will be distributed during the Festival, including a range of events such as Speigeltent debates and the opening and closing night parties.

Commenting on the sponsorship, Jen McLaren, Assistant Brand Manager for Highland Park, said: “Research has shown us that literature rates highly as a key interest for malt drinkers and the Book Festival offers us a strong opportunity to engage with our core audience and create a managed, quality sampling experience. Highland Park also has a high trial to conversion rate so when people taste it they tend to like it, and therefore sampling is a key part of our brand investment plan. We have worked closely with the Book Festival to ensure our sponsorship activity is meaningfully integrated. Our tagline ‘Showcasing the best in literature with the best spirit in the world’ also allows us to communicate the fantastic accolade given to Highland Park 18 year old by whisky expert Paul Pacult*.”

Lois Wolffe, Sponsorship and Development Manager of the Edinburgh International Book Festival, said: “The Highland Park sponsorship brings many things to the Book Festival – in addition to the ever popular masterclasses in the programme, the chance to sample a free dram encourages our audience to stay and enjoy our evening sessions. Branding in the Highland Park Spiegeltent has always been managed well, resulting in a great venue with a warm and welcoming ambience. All in all they are our perfect partners.”

Since undertaking the sponsorship activity, Highland Park has enjoyed increased sales. In 2008 off-trade sales of Highland Park 12 year old rose by 36.5% between July 2007 (prior to the sponsorship activity at that year’s festival) and September 2008 (following the sponsorship activity at the 2008 festival).

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