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CHAPTER FOUR ATTENDEES AT TARTAN WEEK

Introduction

4.1 This chapter provides the key findings relating to the assessment of the effectiveness of communication and the impact of events on attendees. The full report on the results forms an Appendix to this report.

4.2 The attendee surveys were conducted using a range of quantitative and qualitative methodologies.

Face to Face Interviews at Events

4.3 Face to face interviews were conducted with 500 visitors to Tartan Week events by a New York based field company commissioned by Scotinform. It was agreed that the interviews would be conducted at five events which were selected to represent a range of different types of events that were accessible to the general public. There were, however, significant problems in interviewing at three of the locations. As a result, the majority of interviews (404) were conducted at the Scottish Village; the other venue where interviewing was successful was the Scotland Run (82 interviews).

4.4 2007 was the first time that face to face interviews were conducted at Tartan Week, and the problems in fulfilling the interview programme highlighted the difficulties in using this methodology. Some of the problems could be overcome by making sure that the venues chosen for interviews have sufficient footfall for interviews and the interview schedule reflects the peak times for attendance. This would require event organisers to agree to interviews taking part at their venues as part of the application process and providing guidance on the likely patterns of visits. Other issues, particularly the weather, can always affect interviewing at outdoor events.

4.5 The 500 interviews form the main part of the attendees survey work and, although they were largely completed at the Scottish Village, they provide an interesting snapshot of attendees' image of Scotland and the effectiveness of communication for Tartan Week.

Mini Groups at Events

4.6 The qualitative research during Tartan Week was conducted through holding mini groups at the Scottish Village and the Scotland Run. The groups were conducted by members of the Scotinform study team, with participants recruited during their visit to the event.

4.7 A total of 77 participants took part in 30 mini groups/paired interviews. Eight mini groups were conducted at the Scotland Run and 22 mini groups were conducted over two days at the Scottish Village. The groups lasted between 15-35 minutes.

4.8 The mini group methodology was an effective way of discussing attendees' views of Tartan Week and their image of Scotland to add depth to the quantitative findings.

Post-event Online Survey

4.9 An online survey (using Snap Surveys) was sent to 6,090 attendees. The main part of the sample was the 5,718 people who completed the Scottish Run, with additional contacts from the Scottish Book Trust database and people who had taken part in the event research. The survey was sent out in the first two weeks of June, with the aim of assessing the impact of Tartan Week two months after it had finished.

4.10 A total of 1,432 completed questionnaires were returned, a 23% response rate. The results from this survey should be considered in the light of the bias towards Scotland Run competitors which means that the data represents the views of a very specific segment of attendees. Scotland Run competitors were very unlikely to have been to other events in Tartan Week and the results should be seen as a reflection of views on the Run rather than the wider programme of Tartan Week events.

Post-event VisitScotland Online Survey

4.11 VisitScotland's online survey was sent out during April to people responding to its activities during Tartan Week. This included those who entered the 'Win a stay in a Scottish castle' competition, either online or in person at the Scottish Village and those who entered the Edinburgh and Glasgow city breaks competition. The Scottish Executive inserted four questions into the online questionnaire and VisitScotland has provided a report on the results.

4.12 A total of 391 responses were received to the VisitScotland online questionnaire. Respondents were predominantly people who had visited the Scottish Village (88% had been to the Village), meaning that these results have a similar bias to the face to face interviews during Tartan Week.

Post-event Depth Interviews

4.13 Seventeen depth telephone interviews were conducted with Tartan Week 2007 attendees approximately three months after their attendance at a Tartan Week event. The aim of these depth interviews was to explore the impact of visiting Tartan Week and look at any actions taken as a result of visiting events.

Notes on Reporting

4.14 Throughout the report the term 'respondents' refers to the results from the quantitative research (face to face and online surveys) and 'participants' refers to the results from qualitative research (mini groups and depth interviews). * denotes less than 1% of respondents.

Impact of Visit to Tartan Week

4.15 51% of respondents said that they had learnt something new about Scotland at the event, with respondents at the Scottish Village much more likely than those at the Run to say they had learnt something. The key areas mentioned related to the subject matter of the stands at the Scottish Village:

• History/genealogy (54 respondents)
• Beautiful countryside/people (50)
• Fashion (35)
• Whisky (29)
• Music (28)
• Food (20)
• Loch Ness Monster (15)
• Golf (3)
• Good wool (3)
• Geography (3)
• Language (2)

4.16 The qualitative research suggested that participants fell into three main categories in terms of the learning outcomes from their visit to Tartan Week:

1. Visitors who learnt specific facts or increased knowledge about Scotland. The majority of participants at the Scottish Village were able to list the range of things they had learnt about Scotland such as the availability and access to a range of outdoor pursuits.

"I was surprised to see images of people surfing in Scotland - not what I imagined at all."
Scottish Village participant

2. Visitors who had an increased interest in Scotland, without being aware of learning anything specific. This category included visitors to the Scottish Village and the Scotland Run who felt that they were more interested in Scotland as a result of their visit and, therefore, potentially more likely to visit.

"I haven't learnt anything about Scotland and it hasn't changed my image, but it has made me more curious about Scotland."
Scotland Run participant

3. Visitors who did not feel they had learnt anything about Scotland and were unlikely to be interested in finding out more. This was a small proportion of participants, principally at the Scotland Run.

"I can't think of anything I've learnt about Scotland here, but I'm here to watch the runners."
Scotland Run participant

Unprompted Images of Scotland

4.17 Participants were asked, unprompted, what their main image of Scotland was. The responses showed that they had fairly traditional views of Scotland, with the key images of:

• Bagpipes
• Scenery/mountains/hills
• Kilts
• Whisky
• Tartan/plaid
• Loch Ness (mainly at Scottish Village)

4.18 Other images mentioned included golf, bad weather, friendly people, castles, shortbread and heather.

4.19 The traditional images of Scotland were confirmed when participants were asked what they perceived as Scotland's culture. The key description of culture related to Scotland's history, with people describing the heritage, ancestry and history of the country as key areas of culture. A few participants mentioned literature and traditional music as their image of Scotland, but this was usually because they had some connection with the arts or interest in Scottish arts.

4.20 Sir Sean Connery was the famous Scot whom participants were most likely to mention, followed by Ewan MacGregor and the Proclaimers. Other Scots mentioned were: Dougray Scott, Ian Rankin, David Byrne, Craig Ferguson, Jim Kerr, Rod Stewart and Andy Murray.

Image of Scotland - Prompted

4.21 In order to assess respondents' image of Scotland they were asked to select words or phrases which they associated with Scotland. The words shown to respondents were the same as those used in international surveys conducted by the Scottish Executive.

4.22 Table 4.1 highlights that the words selected by respondents showed that they had very positive images of Scotland: 'beautiful scenery', 'friendly people' and 'traditional'.

4.23 The key associations relate to tourist images, with words associated with doing business and studying in Scotland unlikely to be selected by respondents. Again, this is likely to be influenced by interviews being conducted at the Scottish Village which aimed to attract respondents to Scotland.

4.24 It is encouraging to note the very low percentage of respondents choosing the negative words 'boring', 'unfriendly' and 'unwelcoming'.

Table 4.1: Words associated with Scotland
Base = all respondents

Perceptions of Scotland

4.25 Perceptions of Scotland were explored by asking respondents the extent to which they agreed or disagreed with a series of statements about Scotland. These statements were based on statements used in international surveys run by the Scottish Executive. The results are shown in Figure 4.1 and are based on a mean score where 1 = disagree strongly and 5 = agree strongly.

4.26 The statements that respondents were most likely to agree with related to Scotland's history, scenery and potential as a holiday destination. The responses to the statements confirmed that the main image of Scotland is as a place for a vacation.

4.27 There were also very high levels of agreement that Scotland has internationally acclaimed universities and is a good place to study. Respondents aged over 45 years old were more likely than those in younger age groups to perceive Scotland as having universities which are internationally acclaimed for research and science and as a good place to study.

4.28 Although respondents were likely to agree that Scotland is a modern and vibrant place, there were relatively low levels of respondents who agreed strongly with this statement suggesting that Americans have more traditional views of Scotland.

Figure 4.1: Attitudes towards Scotland
Base = all respondents

Main Reasons for Attending Event

4.29 Respondents who were not participating in the events as runners or performers said that the main reason for attending was because they had a general interest in Scotland. For attendees at the Scotland Run, knowing a participant was the most important reason for attending. The results in Table 4.2 suggest that very few attendees were looking for specific information about Scotland.

Table 4.2: Main Reasons for Attendance
Base = all attendees (430)

Views on Events

4.30 Participants were shown a list of events taking place at Tartan Week and asked which of the events they would be interested in visiting and the comments showed that there was a good mix of events which appealed to all ages and interests.

"This is a good list of events - it has something for everyone!"
Scottish Village participant

"This is awesome, it's a great range of events. There's everything from football to piping to books."
Scottish Village participant

"The Bowery Ballroom to the New York Public Library: that just about covers everyone!"
Scottish Village participant

"They are trying to attract and target different audiences, rather than one size fits all."
Scottish Village participant

4.31 The timing of Tartan Week during the main Easter holiday period was mentioned by participants as a reason for not considering attending events. Many participants were planning holidays or had already booked events (not at Tartan Week) and were, therefore, unable to attend events which they thought looked interesting.

Satisfaction with Event

4.32 There were very high levels of visitor satisfaction with the event they were attending: Table 4.3 highlights that 89% of respondents were very or somewhat satisfied. Americans and people aged over 45 years old were more likely than Scottish Americans/Scots and younger age groups to be satisfied.

4.33 The main reason for being dissatisfied with events was that there was not enough interesting information and the event was not of a high quality/not the quality expected of Scotland.

Table 4.3: Satisfaction with event
Base = all respondents

4.34 The qualitative research confirmed the very high levels of satisfaction with the Run and the Scottish Village. Participants at both were generally highly satisfied with their visit.

"The Run is just so professional; it keeps getting better each year."
Scotland Run participant

"We've only just arrived, but everybody is friendly and willing to help."
Scottish Village participant

4.35 The main suggestions for developing the Scottish Village were to increase the access to Scottish goods through food tastings and to have more stalls. A small number of participants had expected the event to be a recreation of a Scottish village, and had anticipated that there would be more stalls and a greater range of Scottish goods on display.

4.36 The positive levels of satisfaction were confirmed by the high proportion of respondents who said they were likely to return to Tartan Week in 2008. Table 4.4 indicates that 77% of respondents said that they would return, including 89% of those living in New York.

Table 4.4: Likelihood of returning to Tartan Week events in 2008
Base = all respondents

Awareness of Tartan Week

4.37 61% of respondents had heard of Tartan Week, with respondents at the Scotland Run much less likely than those at the Scottish Village to be aware of it.

4.38 87% of those aware of Tartan Week said that they knew the event they were visiting was part of Tartan Week. This means that 53% of all respondents were aware that they were visiting a Tartan Week event.

4.39 In the post-event survey 80% of respondents were aware that the event they were attending was part of Tartan Week. Given that runners in the Scotland Run formed nearly 90% of this sample, this suggests that the branding of Tartan Week before and during the Run was effective.

Unprompted Awareness of Advertising/Marketing

4.40 Unprompted, the light poles around Grand Central Station were the advertisements that respondents were most likely to be aware of: 34% of respondents said they had seen them. Although people visiting the Scottish Village were most likely to mention the light poles, nearly a third of respondents at the Scotland Run mentioned them, suggesting that they were effective methods of advertising.

4.41 Advertisements in Time Out New York and the What's On programme were each mentioned, unprompted, by 6% of respondents and 5% said they had seen the nymag.com banner ad or email alert.

4.42 Participants also mentioned the Time Out New York promotional activity, hearing about Tartan Week on the radio and seeing it on TV (' the Glenfiddich man on Martha Stewart').

4.43 The Continental Airlines sponsored competition to win a holiday in a Scottish castle was mentioned by a small number of participants who had seen it in the Time Out advertisement or the What's On programme. This was perceived as a very attractive competition and had clearly created a high level of word of mouth referral.

"The competition for a holiday in a Scottish castle was a fantastic idea - I told all my friends to enter."
Scotland Run participant

Prompted Awareness of Advertising/Marketing

4.44 Just under three quarters (72%) of respondents recognised the Saltire as the Scottish flag, with 8% saying they did not know which flag it was and 20% choosing the flag of another country.

4.45 Table 4.5 highlights, with prompting, around half the respondents said they had seen the light poles, What's On guide and Celebrate Scotland logo, suggesting that these had been effective marketing tools.

4.46 Respondents at the Scotland Run were more likely than those at the Scottish Village to have seen the Celebrate Scotland logo, but they were relatively unlikely to have seen the programme. The prompted responses, however, confirmed that the light poles were effective for visitors to both events.

Table 4.5: Prompted awareness of marketing
Base = all respondents

4.47 The discussions in the mini groups identified that only people with an interest in, or had a connection with, Scotland were aware of the links with tartan. Those participants that were aware of the Scottish link with tartan expressed surprise that a blue tartan was used on the marketing material. There was a widely held perception that tartan should be red and that the use of red tartan would have had much greater impact.

"You'd expect real plaid to be red, so having it in blue is not eye catching and doesn't say Scotland."
Scotland Run participant

"That plaid is in soothing colours, not what you'd expect. It needs a bit of punch."
Scotland Run participant

"It's better to have red plaid to get your attention. You don't associate blue plaid with Scotland."
Scottish Village participant

4.48 It was noticeable that most participants used the word 'plaid' when commenting on tartan, suggesting that 'tartan' is not commonly used in the States. This may explain why a few participants did not know what 'tartan' meant and its connection with Scotland. Young people in the mini groups were much less likely than older people to be aware of what 'tartan' meant.

"I don't know what tartan is - it's not something people our age would know."
Scottish Village participant (22 year old)

www.tartanweekny.com

4.49 When prompted, one quarter (24%) of respondents said they had accessed the tartanweekny.com website.

4.50 Several participants who took part in the qualitative research were disappointed that information relating to Tartan Week was not available on the www.tartanweekny.com website as early as they would have anticipated, eg more than three-four weeks before events started. This would have provided potential attendees with more time to plan their visit to Tartan Week and, where relevant, book tickets.

Impact - Post-event

Quantitative research

4.51 The results of the VisitScotland post-event survey presented in Table 4.6 identified that just under half the visitors to events had a more favourable impression of Scotland as a result of attending event/s at Tartan Week. Just over half had not changed their impression of Scotland, confirming the findings from the mini groups at the Scotland Run during the event.

Table 4.6: Impressions of Scotland as a result of attending Tartan Week event/s
Base = All post-event survey respondents

4.52 Respondents in both the post-event online surveys were asked about their knowledge of Scotland. Both surveys showed that virtually all visitors were interested in Scotland, although the results in Table 4.7 suggest that those visiting the Scottish Village were more knowledgeable about Scotland than those taking part in the Run. This reflects the nature of the two events: the Run was primarily a running event to qualify for the New York marathon, whilst the Village was aimed at promoting Scotland.

Table 4.7: Levels of knowledge of Scotland
Base = all respondents

4.53 55% of respondents in the post-event survey said that they were very likely to return to Tartan Week in the future, confirming the high levels of interest shown in the event survey.

4.54 The VisitScotland online survey results showed that visitors had very positive perceptions of Scotland. Responses confirmed findings from the event survey, with the most positive perceptions relating to Scotland's heritage, patriotism and the friendly people.

4.55 Visitors were least likely to agree strongly with statements relating to Scotland as a place to live and work, as a competitive place to do business and as having a reputation for fashion. The less positive perceptions relating to the economy and business reflects the findings from the event survey.

4.56 VisitScotland survey respondents were asked whether they agreed or disagreed with a series of statements relating to what the Tartan Week events had made them think about Scotland. The answers should be seen to reflect visitors' views on the Scottish Village since over 80% of respondents had been to the Village and appear in Table 4.8.

4.57 The greatest impact related to confirming the key perception of Scotland as a patriotic country, but it had also made visitors think about it as a tourist destination.

4.58 The area of least impact related to Scotland as a place to live and work and do business. This also reflects the findings that visitors were relatively unlikely to have a perception of Scotland being strong in these areas and highlights these as issues that should be addressed at future Tartan Week events.

Table 4.8: Tartan Week made me think about Scotland as ..
Base = VisitScotland respondents

4.59 The VisitScotland survey showed that the most likely outcome of attendance at Tartan Week events was a high level of interest in returning to events in 2008. The findings are presented in Table 4.9.

4.60 Interestingly, the proportion of visitors responding very positively to questions on likelihood of returning to Tartan Week was the same across the event, post-event online survey and VisitScotland survey (55% for all surveys). This confirms the very positive views of the events visited and suggests that the Scottish Village and Scotland Run were effective in appealing to visitors.

4.61 70% of visitors said that they were a lot more likely or more likely to attend other Scottish events in the USA as result of their visit to Tartan Week, showing an increase in interest in Scottish events generally.

Table 4.9: Actions likely as a results of visit to Tartan Week events
Base = VisitScotland respondents

Qualitative research

4.62 The majority of participants who took part in qualitative research post-event were knowledgeable about Scotland with several having visited Scotland, one participant on seven occasions. The Scottish Village was a means of finding out more about where to visit and to collect up-to-date visitor information as well as reminding previous visitors to Scotland of their positive visitor experience. For those who had not previously visited Scotland, their attendance at Tartan Week stimulated their interest in visiting Scotland.

"It made me long to go back. It reinforced our memories."
Scottish Village participant

"When I visited the Village in 2006 I was at the point that I was deciding whether to go to Scotland. Now that we've booked to go I came back to collect up-to-date information."
Scottish Village participant

4.63 Participants' views of Scotland were very positive describing it as "beautiful", "scenic", "peaceful" and with "friendly people". These views were shared by participants prior to attending Tartan Week and were sustained three months after having visited an event. Participants shared these positive views of Scotland with friends and family promoting it as a country to visit.

4.64 Attendees at the Scottish Village were more likely than those who had attended the Scotland Run to have learned new things about Scotland - both historical and current, all of which enhanced their existing knowledge.

4.65 Reasons for non-attendance at more than one Tartan Week event included lack of time as well as lack of information about other events taking place. Participants did express an interest in attending more than one Tartan Week event suggesting that more information in advance of Tartan Week may provide the opportunity for attendees to experience more about Scotland at a range of events.

4.66 The majority of participants who took part in this element of the research described themselves as "knowledgeable" about Scotland and felt that this meant they were more likely to associate the term "Tartan Week" with Scotland than those who were less knowledgeable about the country.

4.67 For those seeking further information about Scotland, the Internet was the most likely source of information mentioned by participants, eg the BBC website, the Scotsman website and VisitScotland.

4.68 Participants described Scotland's culture as "its music", dancing, art and museums. Much of what participants perceived as Scotland's culture was linked to its past and reinforced by images they had seen through the media including films such as "Braveheart".

4.69 Participants were located in New York and elsewhere in the United States and Canada including Maine, San Diego, Tennessee and Toronto. Participants queried why Tartan Week focussed on New York when many Americans of Scottish descent were based elsewhere in the States, eg North Carolina and Virginia as well as Canada. It was suggested that Tartan Week may attract larger audiences if it was located within a state in which there were established links or associations with Scotland.

"New York is a melting pot of all nationalities. In Asheville, North Carolina there is a kind of mini tartan week and the people that go to that have an affinity to Scotland."
Scottish Village participant

Key Conclusions

4.70 The "Tartan Week" brand may not be the most effective way of communicating "Scotland". The degree of confusion amongst participants about what tartan means and how strongly it is seen as "Scottish" indicates that this may not be the most appropriate term to package an event to promote Scotland in the USA.

4.71 There were high levels of visitor satisfaction with the events attended with many stating that they would return to Tartan Week in 2008. The qualitative research also found that some visitors had learnt specific facts or increased their knowledge of Scotland as a result of attending a Tartan Week event. These findings suggest that those attending Tartan Week 2007 had had a positive visitor experience which they hoped to repeat next year.

4.72 There is a need to increase the promotion of the Tartan Week programme to attendees: only around half the visitors were aware that the event they were attending was part of Tartan Week and there were very low levels of multiple event visiting.

4.73 The light poles around Grand Central Station was an effective method of communication, but attendees anticipated that they would have been able to access online and published information about Tartan Week events more than four weeks prior to its start date providing them with the opportunity to plan visits and book events.

4.74 The Scotland Run provided very effective marketing of Tartan Week and Scotland to a wide audience. Ways of increasing attendees' knowledge of Scotland should be considered.

4.75 Attendees were likely to have fairly traditional images of Scotland and, while they were less likely to recognise the modern/contemporary aspects, thought of Scotland in positive terms, eg beautiful scenery and friendly people.

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