Frosty reception as Edinburgh’s winter campaign unveiled

A team which worked on the highly-acclaimed animated film The Illusionist, set in Edinburgh, has produced an advert due to be aired on TV from next month.

But despite a row about the proposed “Incredinburgh” tag – which councillors vetoed – four slogans based on word play around the Capital’s name are still to be used in brochures, posters, newspaper ads and on radio and TV over the next three months,

They are “winter is aheadinburgh”, “shop here 
instedinburgh”, “paint the town 
redinburgh” and “romance isn’t dedinburgh”.

Today, deputy council leader Steve Cardownie said he was disappointed that Marketing Edinburgh, a council arms-length company, had decided to press ahead. He said: “We had asked for these slogans to be market-tested before they were used. They seem to be cocking a snook at the views expressed by the council.

“I used to think he who pays the piper calls the tune, but apparently that’s not the case.”

Cllr Cardownie claimed Marketing Edinburgh had accepted the slogans from the Leith Agency because of the firm’s previous successes, but he said: “Even Lionel Messi can miss an open goal.”

The campaign was launched at an event attended by around 300 people, including representatives from hotels, stores and tourism bodies.

Council leader Andrew Burns sounded a note of caution in his remarks at last night’s gathering. He said: “We all need the next few months to be economically successful if Edinburgh is to meet the challenges before it.

“Early next year, we will pause for reflection to assess how this winter campaign has contributed towards meeting those economic targets.”

The campaign, aimed at attracting short-break and day visitors, highlights Edinburgh’s winter festivals and promotes the city as a better place to shop than Glasgow.

The 30-second animated TV ad includes a snow-peaked Scott Monument being transformed into a sky rocket and celebrates seasonal favourites such as ice-skating in Princes Street Gardens and the 
Hogmanay fireworks.

As well as the hand-drawn illustrations from the team previously involved in The Illusionist, it features street poetry from Edinburgh band Stanley Odd.

The campaign will use the tagline winterinedinburgh, but the Incredinburgh slogan – which Marketing Edinburgh insisted was only ever intended as a Twitter hashtag – will not appear anywhere.

But Marketing Edinburgh said other word-play slogans could be used in future, including “street-credinburgh”, “well-fedinburgh” and “well-redinburgh”.

Lucy Bird, chief executive of Marketing Edinburgh, said: “This campaign is a fun and imaginative way of promoting Edinburgh. We wanted to get people talking and encourage them to think differently about the city. Edinburgh’s appeal isn’t just in its magnificent beauty and heritage; from our restaurants and nightlife, to original shopping and jam-packed programme of events, we’ve a whole range of incredibly exciting things taking place.”