Campaign marketing for Scottish destinations, heritage organisations and charities

The 40th Anniversary Campaign — 2020

In summer 2020, I won a competitive tender to lead the major project marking the route’s 40th anniversary. Working to a tight timeframe, I created a virtual exhibition celebrating the voices and experiences of everyone who has walked, cycled or run the trail since it opened in 1980.

To gather material, I launched a wide-reaching social media and PR campaign across the official West Highland Way website and accounts, resulting in strong public engagement and national media coverage. Alongside public submissions, I conducted video interviews with individuals with a special connection to the route, captured a new collection of photographs, and produced aerial footage along the full length of the Way.

The centrepiece was a short film featuring an exclusive interview with 90-year-old musician and broadcaster Jimmie Macgregor — whose work in the 1980s first brought national attention to the trail — woven together with landscapes, walkers and the stories of the route.

Following the anniversary, I was invited to shoot a fresh suite of photography for a new range of official West Highland Way merchandise. Subsequent work has included a music video for The West Highland Way Song by The Laurettes, a bilingual Gaelic and English storytelling series, and promotional films for the trail’s partnership with Macs Adventure.

The 45th Anniversary Campaign — 2025

The 2025 campaign marked 45 years since the trail’s official opening and the establishment of the new West Highland Way Trust. I led a PR campaign highlighting the Way’s cultural, economic and environmental importance — and the results reflected the significance of the moment.

Coverage included National Geographic, STV, BBC Radio Scotland, The Herald, The Scotsman, and a range of outdoor and travel publications. Social media engagement grew significantly, driven by compelling stories, photography and video showcasing the route’s communities and landscapes.

A major highlight was the PR campaign around Robert Marshall’s remarkable 100th walk of the West Highland Way — an inspiring human story that captured national attention and embodied the spirit of dedication and adventure that defines the trail.

The campaign also included the launch of a new website for the Trust, incorporating donation functionality and the new West Highland Way passport.

Summary of results across the West Highland Way campaigns:

• Significant media coverage, including National Geographic, STV, BBC Radio Scotland, The Herald and The Scotsman

• Virtual anniversary exhibition created and launched

• Short film with Jimmie Macgregor produced and distributed

• Music video for The Laurettes’ West Highland Way Song

• Bilingual Gaelic and English storytelling film series

• Official merchandise photography

• Partnership promotional films with Macs Adventure

• New West Highland Way Trust website launched

• Robert Marshall's 100th walk PR — national coverage achieved

The project

To date, more than 20 people have been interviewed — sharing their memories, experiences and knowledge of life in these communities across generations. Hours of recorded material cover themes including farming, forestry, tourism, community life and the changing Highland landscape.

The project is deliberately collaborative. Alongside my own work, local community groups and students are contributing interviews — building the skills and confidence to keep adding to the archive long after the initial commission is complete. Primary school children are also being engaged, ensuring the project connects across generations and gives young people a stake in their own community’s story.

The approach

Rather than releasing everything at once, the campaign is being built gradually — with new stories, themes and content added as the project develops. This keeps it relevant, encourages ongoing engagement, and allows the narrative to grow naturally and authentically.

The content will live on a dedicated website — currently in development — combining recorded interviews, photography, film and written interpretation. The aim is a permanent digital home for these stories, accessible to communities, visitors, researchers and schools — now and in the future.

Why this matters

This is the kind of campaign that goes beyond marketing. It uses the skills and disciplines of storytelling — editorial judgement, visual content, digital platforms, community engagement — to create something with lasting cultural value.

The stories being captured now will still be there in fifty years. That’s what makes it worth doing properly.

What campaign work typically involves

Every campaign is different — in scope, audience, timeline and budget. But the approach is consistent.

It starts with understanding what the campaign needs to achieve and who it needs to reach. From there, the work is about bringing together the right disciplines — PR and media relations, photography, video, digital content, social media — into a coherent strategy where everything supports everything else.

Because one person handles everything, there’s no briefing chain, no disconnect between strategy and execution, and no risk of the campaign losing coherence as it moves from planning to delivery.

This approach works particularly well for:

• Tourism destinations and visitor attractions marking milestones or launching new initiatives

• Heritage organisations and charitable trusts with stories that deserve a wider audience

• Charities and community groups running fundraising or awareness campaigns

• Destination management organisations needing joined-up PR, content and digital support

• Any organisation looking for a trusted partner to take full responsibility for a campaign from brief to delivery