Why you don't need to be a nationalist to value 'Scotland the Brand'

There is a bit of competition in the calendar for the attention of global Scots with Burns night to commemorate the Bard in January and Tartan Day, marking the signing of the Declaration of Arbroath, particularly, in the USA and Canada, in April. Both are competing with today’s events. Be that as it may, who cares, it is a chance for us all to come together celebrate Scots and Scotland and our contribution to the world.

Like any other nation, the day provides an annual opportunity to showcase ourselves to the world. It is a not-to-be-missed marketing opportunity and one we should not shy away from.

Scotland has one of the best international brands in the world, even for a country without its own foreign ministry. It is globally recognisable, helping to deliver jobs and investment at home. It is also a brand with soft power clout delivering benefits to the UK and Scottish Government alike. It is distinctive from the UK’s own brand, where, as one would expect in a multi-national state, a variety of identities co-exist within these islands.

In recent years, UK ministers would shy away from promoting brand Scotland and prefer to promote the myth of a unitary state. That perhaps reached its culmination in the cringeworthy ‘Britain is Great’ campaign.

During that time, there was criticism from some politicians and commentators of the Scottish Government and Scottish Development International’s offices in the world, which are used to promote the country and its industries. Incidentally such offices are an investment made by other sub-state entities such as the German lander, Canadian provinces, Belgian states and a wide range of other non-independent governments, for the same reasons that the Scottish Government invests in these services.

This isn’t new and has plenty of historic precedent. As the historian Professor Murray Pittock explained in the Empire podcast, even after the Treaty of Union, Scotland’s international brand survived and thrived.

The reason is a simple one: Scotland sells. This internationally recognisable brand is used to sell fabrics from the Borders in Brazil, Moray shortbread in Malta, Edinburgh financial services in Estonia, Aberdonian energy technology in Azerbaijan and Scottish whisky everywhere.

Brand Scotland is used by a wide variety of industries that help keep Scots in jobs back home. The food and drink sector uses the saltire, the St Andrews cross, to mark out their product. Our higher education institutions bring in students from every corner of the world for the excellence of the education and experience of Scotland with its distinctive degree system. The tourist sector sells Scotland as a destination. The distinctiveness of the brand is recognised and valuable.

There is the obvious target of the diaspora. Spread throughout the world and estimated at about 70 or 80 million – 14 Scots for every Scot living in the ‘old country’ – that provides an audience for marketing the country and what we have to offer.

However, the brand goes further than that as progress in markets in Europe, Asia and Latin America has underlined. Little wonder that Edinburgh was this week revealed as the highest ranked UK city, after London, for foreign direct investment and that Scotland as whole received double the rate of growth of foreign direct investment compared to the rest of the UK last year.

The value of the brand is not restricted to the economy but also the invaluable soft power reach. Tens of thousands of graduates and others who associate themselves with Scotland sit in positions of power and influence all over the world.

Scotland’s brand has provided a backdrop to peace-building efforts for places such as the troubled and hugely complex Caucasus. Organisations like the outstanding Beyond Borders Scotland and influential John Smith Trust lean into their Caledonian origins as part of their work and appeal.

The UK Government is even getting in on the act at long last and the Secretary of State for Scotland this week jetted off to Southeast Asia to promote brand Scotland. Ministers at Westminster spoke of working with the Scottish Government to promote Scotland, as other states do. That is hopefully a more progressive move compared to the centralisation of foreign policy that we have seen in recent years.

There is a recognition that the brand has value and is delivering at home. At a time when the UK’s soft power and brand has taken a hit over Brexit and its relatively isolated position with the threat of trade wars looming over us, the UK needs to draw on all its resources.

That will not come down to relying on brand Scotland, just as our achievements are not exclusively down to that. As ever, there are a range of factors. I also don’t think you need to believe in independence to see the value of a distinctive brand that appeals to audiences on its own terms. The political, economic and diplomatic successes speak for themselves.

This weekend as we raise a dram, or one of the many other beverages sold around the world using the flag of St Andrew, to the memory of the patron saint and Scots across the world, we can also reflect on the value of our common brand. You will be doing your bit for your country, and keeping more than a few Scots in jobs too.

Stephen Gethins is the MP for Arbroath and Broughty Ferry