Clutching at straws
Posted on
December 04, 2013 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
Surely that must be Project Fear at the bottom of the barrel now?
The lead story in today’s Herald, folks. If “story” isn’t putting it much too strongly.
And the author of the article claims to be neutral. Not a single challenge to this ludicrous claim.
The Scottish brand has forever been subsumed in Britain with the latter synonymous with and interchangeable for England. A first year business studies student could have challenged this crap
And why should we care what the value of the name “Britain” is (or the name “Scotland”, for that matter), it’s not like we’re able to sell it.
Unless they’re saying that Scotland will get it’s fair share of the proceeds of selling the name “Britain” when we go independant? But who would buy it?
That has to be a piss take from the Herald, really it just has to be.
Brand valuation is one of the new vogues along with home equity, and off books losses.
Jeez, how the ferk can they define a value for a brand for a Country, especially one like the UK that has most furreners mixing up geography and politics?
Brand valuation has some validity in a moveable brand, which can be sold off or brand extended, like Kit Kat.
For a country, it is an impossibly nebulous concept to define. The definition of nebulous with respect to a concept is indefinite.
Bollox
Only made it a few lines in before I had to stop reading. Such a load of abstract nonsense. Brand Scotland is already extremely strong (no thanks to UK embassies). How many people don’t know about tartan and bagpipes and Aberdeen Angus etc?
Must confess to having read the article.
Disappointed that ‘a Yes spokesperson’ felt the need to contribute anything to this rubbish.
Embarrassing for all concerned.
Can’t help thinking that it’s gone very quiet from the BT camp since the white paper came out – is this the best they can come up with?
Indyref Scare Stories Could Cost Herald Millions in Brand Valuation, says me
Is this supposed to scare us?!!!!
I don’t recall ever seeing anything so lame over the course of the debate.
BT are going to be mocked by the masses in due course. (Especially when they find they have no option but to provide real answers to questions on Europe, currency etc because their position is untenable)
Being independent from each other doesn’t stop BElgium NEtherlands and LUXembourg from co-branding white goods 🙂
Och, you know what?
I think I will just take a chance on the future prospects for “Brand Scotland” and vote YES in 2014.
Who cares about “Brand Britain”. To see how much “Brand Scotland” benefits from the current setup, read this at Business for Scotland.
http://www.businessforscotland.co.uk/scotlands-exporters-let-down-by-uk-embassy-network/
Where’s the benefit of the Union?
PS. Sorry about the long link. On my phone.
I think most consumers/markets buy a product based on the manufacturer’s brand name rather than the manufacturer’s country of origin as the product they purchase may have been produced/manufactured elsewhere.
Obviously there are certain products that need the fingerprint of the country of origin, e.g. whiskey.
Otherwise cannot recall being guided to buy a product due to the assocation of the country where a product was actually manufactured or produced.
So, in the last 12 months we’ve went from Scotland being invaded by Russia (or somebody), blown up by North Korea, cast out of the global family of nations as a pariah, no BBC, no EU, no £, no electricity and no trade… to this?
Either The Herald has chucked in the towel and doesn’t pretend to be a proper newspaper anymore, or an indicator that the tide is turning. Doesn’t it all feel a bit tired from Better Together now.
In other news, the value of Brand Fear has fallen dramatically…..
@bannock hussler
@scotchwoman
😀
Millions, no less.
Probably the cost of Gareth Bale.
Vote Yes to be shot of this nonsense.
@ Angry Weegie.
Totally agree. Anyway after a Yes next year what actually is Britain ? Extremely poor article.
The British (And I really mean English) have tarnished their brand by invading other sovereign countries & running up unsustainable levels of sovereign debt.
The image of the British Armed forces is further ruined when it can’t even afford to put planes on an aircraft carrier. Britian’s sense of mystique is blown apart by its own media which choses to print & distribute salacious stories about its Royal family. And the British Government does itself no favours by having an unelected second chamber in Westminster that is now larger than China’s politburo. English hooliganism is also not the positive image that one would wish for if attempting to build a desirable brand.
The British brand itself is confusing because of the local, national & international swapping of Britain & England. More than once was the British Olympic team called the English team by English people on the TV for example.
The Scottish brand on the other hand is singularly positive, uniquely distinct & is a well received brand in every country I have ever visited. I cannot think of single instance where the mentioning of my county or nationality was looked down upon or considered negatively. Our identifiers may to some seem clichéd but how many other countrymen can wear their national dress in another country & receive a warm smile or positive comment in return? Many countries are envious of Scotland’s brand identifiers because they are unique, well recognised, usually understood & positive.
In comparison, the English have no national dress code beyond football jerseys, short haircuts & aggressive looking tattoos. The Butcher’s Apron is considered as an imperial war flag by many countries whereas Scotland’s is not.
Independence then can only be good for Scotland’s brand. As for England, well they have to solve their social problems if they want to improve their image abroad.
So,Great Britain will cease as a political entity.And EWNI will have to apply for membership as a new state?
It has been revealed by Project Fear that children will no longer be allowed to play “British Bulldogs” after Separation.
The Brand Finance press release doesn’t say they’ve done any research whatsoever on this. It’s just a bunch of assertions based on hot air.
But what a surprise, The Herald just pumps it out like painting by numbers. Useless numpties.
So far the usual Unionist suspects seem too embarrassed to support this load of pish in the Comments section. Even that OBE chap from Woking who seems to work from a shoe-box full of slogans.
Check out the front page of the FT for an alternative view to RevStu’s views on barrel scraping.
Headline is “Tories criticise ‘comatose’ Darling’s leadership of pro-union campaign”
Apparently “Whitehall officials have been collating information on the case for the union, which the “No” campaign has declined to use for fear of being accused of running a negative campaign”.
The mind boggles.
Brand Valuation? Dearie me, how did I not see this terrible catastrophe coming. Just cannot wait to discuss this topic with fellow pensioners this afternoon. Must take smelling salts with me in case they faint with the shock.
One brand that seems to have lost its shine is A Darling. Now a briefing against him article has appeared on the Daily Hate sorry Mail.
“England’s Andy Murray” Google: 118,000 results.
The union flag equates to England for a huge number of people across the globe, what does that do for ‘Brand Scotland”.
See also Business for Scotland recent entry on UK embassies St Andrews day events.
edit- already mentioned above
You would have to laugh if it was not so serious.
Yes it would cost Britain billions, but what is the cost of Scotland staying in the union. I bet you its gonna costs us more
Man selling brand consultancy says we have a banding problem. Yeah, that’s a front- pager alright. Poor old Herald.
As someone with an Honours Marketing Degree, an MBA and who runs a marketing company I can say with absolute certainty that there is no other sphere of human activity where more bullshit flows than in ‘branding’, especially when it flows from a consultancy..
Having just checked out the tables relating to this we can see that the Brit Nats are falling for the old ‘bigger is better line’. The Brand Equity per Capitapaints a completely different picture and shows that small, Northern European Countries out-perform larger countries by a massive degree.
Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Netherlands, Denmark are way ahead of us on a per capita basis. When you then consider the core ‘values’ of brand Scotland I would say that Scotland’s brand, unweighted by brand UK would be, on a per capita basis, one of the most successful in the world.
Consider our strengths:
Unrivaled tourism ‘product’ encompassing culture, scenery and history, peerless food and drink sector, golf, technical and engineering know-how, oil sector, top ranking education and research…I could go.
Sure, the UK’s profile will go down, ours will shoot up. Bring it on.
Two things.
Cameron’s trade mission to China includes, amongst others The Football Association. Not much of a payoff for Britain’s brand there in terms of Scottish footballing interests. The reverse in fact, as more money to the English game further inflates wages and draws our young talent south.
Business Scotland have claimed that the 48 hours around the referendum result will generate media coverage that would be worth up to £1bn if it was bought in.
Well flag makers will be busy ….just think o aa the union jacks needing binned and new flags made for whatever the rUK has…….
Breaking news, some other nobody (me) suggests new brand Scotland will be a sensational success on the world market, unequalled for a nation of it’s size. Golf, whisky, tourism, renewables, oil, tartan, tweed, research, history, landscape, etc. etc.
O/T tick tock….not long until the BT balloon bursts
http://archive.is/sf9aOelegraph.
Re-branding!
After WW2, the allies made sure that all German goods were stamped with Made in W Germany. It was thought this would put the consumer off, it had the opposite effect, as it became synominous with quality.
So what about made in England, or Made in UK, or made in Britain, with the exception of a few brands, it is synominous with poor quality.
Made in Scotland is synominous with excellent quality, mainly due to our food and drink exports.
“The consultancy pointed out how a Yes vote would mean the end of Britain as a political entity…”
Who knew? Thank God for consultants.
Since the Scottish government declared its intention to hold a referendum, foreign investment has been pouring into Scotland. I do not think independence will harm us – On the contrary in fact.
Scotland as a recognised name is an intangible asset. People know it and as such an independent Scotland does not have to re-brand. What rUK does is entirely up to them.
Blimey what an article. Does the bloke know he looks like a idiot right? It’s a wind up. That can’t be a real job can it? This article along with talk of Darling being a liability for the BT campaig, has put a wee spring in my step this morning. If they replace Darling with either Brown or Hunt or Gove my sides will explode with laughter. Is there not one politician with credibility in Scotland to head the NO campaign?….er….no…
This is fairly obviously a PR puff piece. Of the same sort of “the most depressing day of the year is” type.
Brand awareness company has it’s own brand value survey? That you can only mention if you mention the companies name?
A valuable robust piece of work?
Aye right
Not the lead story in my copy, but appears on page 6 in a slightly different form so perhaps the Herald has partly recognised what a bunch of crap the story is.
If you want glaring headlines of dubious provision try the Mail’s
SHAME AS SCOTS ARE BRANDED A NATION OF DUNCES
No mention of being better than the other UK countries. What is the editorial point? That Scotland should give up responsibility for education to Westminster? Not very logical….
PS I see this is still going. Overnight the No camp upped their tally and I think it is now doing the chap’s head in. He has changed his warning note which originally suggested it was Yes that was being naughty. It is now a rather more neutral warning.
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/poll/02-12-2013/should-scotland-be-an-independant-country
Yes still in front by 63% to 36% though (It was 66 to 33 about midnight last night). Glad No have had a splurge though. It gives evidence to the lie that it is only Yes that does this.
Great Britain & Northern Island is rebranded the rUK Tigers and the Queen embarks on a tour of Rangers pubs. Money problems solved.
For those who are still a little bit confused about UK, GB, etc. here’s a nice explanation with a bit of humour.
The guy seems to be from an ex-colony and is a wee bit quick but it’s worth it 😉
Well Britain the Brand is not going down well in China.
lol at the vid.
Especially the bit about England wanting to pretend it’s in the middle of the Atlantic. If I had the time I’d yank that image out and stick the line in as a caption.
Oh my, is this what it´s come to? Headlines like this? Empty voices shouting in a void.
Scotland´s brand, which already has a good level of brand awareness across the world, can only improve with independence.
Who´d ever heard of places like Estonia, Croatia, Slovenia, etc before they became independent nations? Their profile may still not be as high as many other places, but anything higher than what they had previously is a boost.
Many people hadn´t even distinguished between Catalonia and Spain until recent events put it on the map.
Brand Britian,Danny Alexander on Bbc news this morning,Westminster gov to sell of 40% of Eurostar ( the majority of your viewers wouldnt know the gov owed 40% ,) OH AYE WE DAY KNOW THE DIDDY ) whit wiz it invested £400 bil ( wi nae Euro terminal at Holytown ) as promised ) Insurance company,s will invest £25 bil over the next 6 yrs HA HA HA .SG white paper a wish list, it might be such but with sound financial planning of our own Revenue is a stick on for the Scottish people, selling of our share of assets only incresses the rUK dept to Scotland, we re watchin ( Closely ) Ahve no hud a memory wipe yit mr Alexander neither huv a lot of Scots ( hurry up 18th Sept FOR THE TIMES THEY ARE A CHANGING )
@ Chalks:
Looks like they’re getting ready with their excuses and starting to play the blame game.
It’ll all be Darling/Labour’s fault. Since they (the Tories) took no part in running Project Fear, Dave & Co will be blameless.
Is it the 1st of April already?
Slightly o/t, but, I notice the betting on a YES vote has come in from 5/1 to 9/2 in the last few days!
Still good value IMHO
For branding valuations, these ‘consultants’ are no more than the guys selling ‘Tulip’ futures in Amsterdam’s coffee market. Only time they get their hands dirty is when they are picking pound coins out of mud.
http://www.thebubblebubble.com/tulip-mania/
Talk of bankrupt Britain Gordon Brown replacing house flipper Alistair Darling. Priceless, the man who once “saved the world” now reduced to saving the union.
Never mind the Herald. Has anybody seen the front page headline in the Mail?
Self loathing does not adequately describe it.
That article in the FT is worthy of a few sniggers and linking the BT campaign with the word razzmatazz is particularly funny. Love it.
O/T but there you go.
Not posted for about a week.
Spent the last couple of days catching up on WoS stuff. Not yet watched NS or QT recorded.
Trip to Iceland was an eye-opener.
They have perfected their “Brand” based on their resources and geological uniqueness. The people are friendly and helpful and speak excellent English.
They have invested in infrastructure, The airport at Keflavik is world class and the roads well built and maintained.
The direct flight takes under two hours.
Go and see the “Arc of Prosperity” at first hand.
Ponder what we could do here in our own country if it were our own.
Branding! England may well become branded as a Chinese colony. Way way back in time Colonial Britain built railways and supply the running gear to her colonies – not free or cheap mind you – now China is going to have a stab at this colonial game in England building railways and power stations. And Grangemouth refinery, of strategic importance to Scotland and permitted to be sold to overseas investors, one investor being…China!
Project Fear? The real fear is what further damage Westminster can do leading up to Scotland becoming independence.
Even with the massive salaries involved,the Tories are rapidly running out of potential patsies to take on this , or the other poisoned chalice that is the secretary of state for Scotland job.They must be shiteing their breeks , they know they canny send one of their own to Scotland , as that would win it for yes , they also know that we all know the lib-dems have sold out every election manifesto promise, for a wee sip at the cabinet cup, and pay them no heed, which only leaves the remnants of a failed labour government,most of whom have a proven track record of deceit and expenses fiddling. I am honestly surprised there is anyone left in Scotland who still thinks we would be ” better together ” with ANY of the above .
G H Graham ,sos pal I need to correct you on England / British national dress, you forgot Bowler Hatter Brolly Brigade, & how could you forget about the MORRIS DANCERS dress code, am the wan that sits in the corner o the classroom wie the pokyhat oon , an am no gien it up without a fight lol
Branding: What happens to the toxic brands in Scotland after a YES vote? The BBC awakes on the morning after the referendum as what? They have spent years oodles of our money explaining how we are to wee, to stupid, and to poor To be of any use to man or beast. All their eggs are in one basket, the lies and venom will be a matter of record, their tainted presenters will be exposed for what they are, so now what?
They will need the help of some branding outfit to convince us how we are again wrong and that all the shit and lies thrown at YES over the last few years didn’t happen. Is this same bunch of ("Tractor" - Ed)s going to switch over to SBC with a shrug of the shoulders. Aye and nobody will notice!
If the loyalty, morals and standards of these people can be bought and sold then maybe we need to think again.
Poor patsy AD has been set up. The fall guy has been royally shafted, and he knows it. I think the penny dropped last September, when the Edinburgh Agreement was signed. Now, he is just going through the motions, because he has no choice, but to see Bitter Together through to the Bitter End.
Britain; the land where every day is the first of April.
O/T
Food poverty in UK has reached level of ‘public health emergency’, warn experts
I think ‘food poverty’ is what we used to call starvation.
I clicked on another video from C.G.P, in it he makes some rather dubious claims. Does anyone actually know if they are accurate or not?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhyYgnhhKFw#
HandandShrimp at 10.20
Yes. I contacted the site last night and pointed out that the NO team were at it as well so he has adapted his warning.
Strange surge of NOs from Wales
Vronsky
Could not agree more. Herald recycles press release ( see the actual press release at archive.is/hWfop ) is unfortunately not much of a story anymore. Inexplicably however they seem to have omitted the comments of Maria Miller from their article.
Pish.
Would be very careful and watchful of this eventuality.
The decision by insurers L&G, Prudential, Aviva, Standard Life, Friends Life, and Scottish Widows to invest in infrastructure follows changes in European rules pushed for by the UK which incentivise investment in a wider range of assets.
Branding…i look forward to Westminster having a “Made in China” stamp on it arse
@Luigi:
If AD knows he’s the fall guy, why doesn’t he do the honest thing and switch to Yes?
I know he’s been a very public No, and would probably get quite a bit of crap from the media. But just imagine the blow to the Torys for having their top No voice publically switch to Yes.
He could probably arrange it to happen on a public BBC debate with Nicola Sturgeon if he really wanted. Just imagine the scene: Nicola setting up for another massive debate, the BBC piping it as a big live debate, crippling the case for Yes, etc… then AD comes on, tries to debate for five mins, then says “You know what Nicola, you’re right. I guess I’ll be voting Yes next year.”
Can you imagine the responce from the BBC presenter?
bannock hussler says:
Indyref Scare Stories Could Cost Herald Millions in Brand Valuation, says me
Yep, me too. After 40 years of buying The Herald every day, that does it for me – not another copy will I buy.
I watched Cameron and his hand picked group waving from the tarmac in a news report, before their departure. They WERE a hand picked group including one or two relations, a big delegation, report was our biggest.
HOWEVER, there were NO SCOTTISH companies included at all. So just who was to benefit here? not too difficult is it to fathom out. Brand Britain, aye right!
Brand Scotland will perform well for our 5,300,000 people.
A quick aside, I increasingly notice any links that are put up, pointing to something that could be a negative for no, is quickly removed, from everywhere. So someone is sitting in a back room somewhere deleting these as they are found. They leave us to find them, they just watch our comments ( and of others )to find their targets. Desperation takes many forms.
If AD knows he’s the fall guy, why doesn’t he do the honest thing and switch to Yes?
Because he is the Captain of the Titanic and feels he has no option but to go down with his ship. Before last September, he thought he was unsinkable. Suddenly, he was holed below the waterline!
BRAND BRITIAN, BRAND BOLLOXS more like, honestly is this the best they can do to scare us poor Scots into voting NO.
Aye the NO campaign appears to be running out of both ideas and leaders, and has anyone seen or heard about what Charles Kennedy is doing I thought he was supposed to be one of the leading lights of the No campaign ?
Vote YES, Vote Scotland.
If Darling is dropped/pushed, who else is going to front that campaign? How many other Uncle Tams can they roll out to tell the Scottish public how good they’ve got it?
Alistair Darling, the captain of the BT Titanic, would never lower himself and jump aboard the small, but seaworthy Good Ship Scotland. It’s too far beneath him. However, it looks like his bosses, the Cameron-Osbourne shipping company, have already climbed aboard the SS rUK. Goodbye Alistair, keep playing that BT violin for as long as you can!
I see on BBC on-line that there is already an established project to redesign the “union jack” – with a number of rather startling suggestions already produced. Ah well – they’ll have 18 months to come up with something eye-catching to rebrand their new tripartite status. Perhaps Wales might get a look-in this time.
Aye, Darling won’t go unless he is pushed….I’d imagine they are holding off sacking him until sometime in the New Year, probably closer to the last 4 or 5 months of it. Gives a ‘fresh’ (haha) impetus to the new man and their campaign (or so they think) but the message will be the same, no matter the person delivering it, it’s what they just don’t understand.
I’d envisage once Salmond or Sturgeon, or Canavan (which would be great) have had their pound of flesh from him, he’ll be sacked. With Murphy or Douglas Alexander probably Alexander based on the psh he has come out with previously about a convention and increased devo……that’s the only argument Labour have left to wean back their own voters, increased devo….will it wash a 2nd time?
No way G.Brown will take over, it’s why he set up UwL……the only thing that will really set off Labour into complete nuclear meltdown is Allan Grogan and the Labour for Indy gang setting out their proposals for an Indy Scotland.
Once the Scottish population realise that they do have options rather than just a piecemeal showing by the for indy parties, then things will move up a high gear.
I’d just got myself into a position where I was contemplating voting Yes until I saw this headline. Thanks to the Herald for preventing me from making a huge mistake.
@Clarinda:
Got a link, please.
Jimbo – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-25205017
I apologise if I have broken the Rev’s rules on links.
@Les Wilson
Scottish companies didn’t need to go to China with Cameron, as they already had the chance to go with Salmond. I dare say they weren’t even invited for this very reason.
Of course we still get to pay 10% towards Cameron’s trip as well as 100% of our own.
I remember the old ‘Buy British’ campaigns. Look how that worked out.
heh, that would be amusing, two Labor parties running in an independant Scotland.
Labor for Indy really should lay out their proposals for an Independant Scotland. Maybe they haven’t because they’d be accused of cribbing from the White Paper? Surely there’s another set of socialist policies that could be advanced as an alternative?
Maybe they could go for the “decriminalisation to reduce crime and increace public funds” angle? Making a whole bunch of victimless crimes legal, which would reduce police and prision funding needs, increase public health (if it’s not illegal you’ll go the the ER for an overdose, and if you buy it in Boots then you know it won’t be split with arsnic), reduce secondary crimes from ordinary people dealing with a criminal element, increace government funds from moving things off the black market into being taxed trades, improve tourism from England, and I’m sure there’s more benefits that I can type off the top of my head.Unless the SNP are planning that as well?
@ScotFree1320
Or the earlier “I’m backing Britain” campaign, exemplified by the GB sticker on the rear end of an elephant at the conclusion of “Carry On Up The Khyber.”
@chalks:
There is absolutely no chance of Alexander or Murphy fronting the ‘No’ campaign.
Both of them are already looking for a parachute in the event of a Yes vote.
Dave McEwan Hill at 11.04
See my post at 10.18.
For interest I later googled the Mail’s English edition but nothing there that I could see about the figures being worse in England. They will never accept that Scotland can do anything better on its own than their beloved Union.
You may like to know that MoneyExpert have added this rider to the vote.
That they have detected unusual voting patterns on the I live in Scotland vote- inc a disproportionate number of Scottish voters (even taking into account the topic). Its likely there’ve been email/social media campaigns to drum up voters. So the result may be far from representative.
Scottish Independence Groups stand firm and united while the opposition falls and splinters.
There has always been a British, English and Scottish branding. In many countries the source/country of origin has to be specified.
Scottish branding is totally significant world wide. Recognised the work over. Tartan, the kilt, quality goods, food and drink. Known with affection the world over.
China has described Britain, ‘as a small insignificant country without an Empire, useful for shopping and education’. The British brand losing significant.
British Imperialism is criticised throughout the world. .
Albert Herring
Yes Albert you are right, but when Alex Salmond went to China he was representing Scotland not “Great Britain”. However Cameron did, which suggests via “Great Britain” that he is working for us to, as a part of.
He CLEARLY was not doing that, he was in the main promoting English companies and goods. Yet, our taxes will be contributing to his trip.
Therein, is the big difference. Usual treachery is obvious.
@Robert Kerr
I’m off on holiday to Iceland next Thursday and you’ve just whetted my appetite even further 🙂
I’m in Taiwan at the moment. Near where I am living there is a massive banner, three storeys high, advertising Breitling watches. It features David Beckham looking all manly and heroic. It reads, at the top in great big letters, “The essence of Britain”… then below, in much smaller letters, “Made in Switzerland” I laugh at it every time I pass!
Brand Britain, is their even such a thing, the UK at the moment is mainly a service industry according to the Chinese Government.
Now Scottish produce, theirs a brand worth having, I would have liked to, have added Scottish heavy industry but Westminster ended that.
As a growing point of interest does any good citizen of these shores know just who went on this wonderful bash to China with Call me Dave?
It would be ever so helpful if any positive association with Scotland, its businesses and its people could also be garnered.
Since it came to light that Scottish business is already provided for with its own overseas marketing arm (to be taken from the block grant?) and is not thereby party to ‘UK/GB’ trade mission adventures such as this one to China, how can Call me Dave say that this a ‘bloody British trade mission’.
Of course we know that the English conflate England with UK/GB/British – as in, Scotch and all our Scottish innovations were British products, but Cheddar and Scrumpy is English – so yet another big vacuum in the lexicon looms following our disappearance over the far away hill of independence.
So apart from his father-in-law and next-door-neighbour, just who did our UK PM take with him to China, at our expense?
I shook my head in laughing disbelief when reading the article.
Firstly, a “news”paper printing brand consultant press releases on national brands as “news”? And putting a (arbritary?) price label on them – everything is for sale for these people…
Secondly, and more importantly: Scotland has a strong and positive national brand, which can only get stronger with independence. OK, so at the moment Scotland is best known internationally for tartan/kilts/bagpipes/whisky, with some golf, scenery and Braveheart romaticism thrown in. However, abroad this narrow view of Scottishness is viewed overwhelmingly positively, there’s something quirky and mystical and exciting about Scotland.
With independence, Scotland can build on these strengths and also promote Scotland as it is in the 21th century: a modern, democratic country, renewables, life sciences, gaming, outdoor and adventure tourism, high-quality food and drink, world-class universities etc. etc.
When Scotland goes independent, the rUK will lose a big part of their “brand”. Not so GREAT anymore, eh? The English brand (and let’s face it, abroad Britain is often equated with England – poor Wales, nobody thinks of them, and the NI brand isn’t very positive…) is a lot more controversial than the Scottish brand, not so unequivocally positive.
So another Project Fear story which boils down to the fact that rUK will lose out when Scotland goes independent. That’s why they’re so dead opposed to Scottish independence.
PS. My small independent country only came around 30th in the value of the national brand rankings. Oh dear, must rejoin Sweden now! (Sweden came 8th.)
Hang on. Here is an international company with an established reputation and expertise in brand management, and what they say has to be taken seriously. I think they’re wrong, because they don’t consider the alternative brand valuations of a separated UK, and in my view Scotland has an international brand value that punches well above its weight for all sorts of (mainly historical) reasons.
But these are questions we must answer. It’s no good just to trash their opinions because we disagree with them.
They’ve still got months to go and the most heated part of the race to run yet and they’ve hit this kind of rubbish? Fantastic really. If we had to have an opposition it is better for us if it isn’t much good at it.