Scottish Thistle Awards 2002
Small Business Marketing Initiative

Sponsored by BMI British Midland

Award Description
This award was open to any company with less than 20 full time employees and an annual turnover of less than 1 million, and seeks to recognise those that could demonstrate a successful and creative marketing initiative. Judges looked for an initiative which had clear objectives, was well researched, used creative marketing techniques and could demonstrate success using rigorous evaluation procedures. bmi british midland is offering the winner a pair of return business tickets to Brussels.

Winner: Gems of Midlothian, Lasswade
The judges considered this to be a very focused strategy that was well thought through and achieved excellent results.

The main aim of this joint marketing initiative was to create a quality brand for three B&B''s (The ''Gems of Midlothian'') and connect the brand to the quality component of the Midlothian Tourist Product. Working with a minimal budget, the group concentrated on below the line marketing tools including direct marketing and publicity.

The Group managed to gain excellent coverage, significantly raised the profile of Midlothian amongst their target audiences, achieved higher occupancy, higher turnover, less room discounting and increased clarity in marketing objectives and goal setting.

Contact: Quin Dunlop
Tel: 0131 663 7047

Finalist: Highlands Loch Ness - More Than A Monster, Inverness
The Highlands Loch Ness is a consortium of 31 tourist business in the highlands areas, which was established to undertake a joint marketing initiative with one of the main aims being to develop a strong brand that would differentiate the area as a visitor destination.

By comparing individual experiences, the Gems members concluded that a joint approach to marketing could produce a shared thinking on Best Customer Care that would result in a 'Cluster of Excellence'.

They gathered market information from established clusters of businesses, and worked with industry bodies to identify market opportunities. The result was the development of a project which involved exhibits at thirteen travel trade and consumer holiday exhibitions over 2000 - 2001.

The exhibitions were carefully selected and planned and were well attended with good results. It was a very professional initiative with a clear plan and ongoing evaluation, and was a great example of a number of disparate organisations cooperating.

Contact: Helen Smith
Tel: 01463 715225

Finalist: Morton of Pitmilly, St Andrews
In 1999, Morton of Pitmilly introduced quite radical changes to its marketing strategy, including aiming to repackage holidays by changing to Monday and Friday changeover days, and refocusing its product towards ''green'' tourism. A clear promotional strategy was developed, aimed at previous customers and their friends and relatives.

The marketing strategy demonstrated an excellent use of databases, with information held on all bookings over the past ten years and four years worth of feedback from in-house questionnaires. Utilising these databases and ''refer a friend'' tool resulted in an effective direct mail campaign which has achieved excellent results, including year-round occupancy rates of 90%. The judges noted that this was an excellent example of a small business maximising its assets and marketing budget.

Contact: Mr & Mrs Parker
Tel: 01334 880466

Previous Winners
View the past winners of the Thistle Awards:
Year 2001 Award winners
Academy of Winners