Piping Hot Forres in line for tourism award

Piper, Piping Hot Forres
Over 4000 pipers competed at Grant Park in Forres to be European Pipe Band Champions

We are delighted, but certainly not surprised, to discover that one of our clients, Piping Hot Forres, the European Pipe Band Championships, have been shortlisted for the Best Event or Festival award in this year’s Highlands and Islands Tourism Awards.
The event, now in its second year, was unlike anything ever held in Moray before, and sight of 18,000 people in Grant Park on the day was awesome in the true sense of the word.
David Urquhart of Piping Hot Forres said: “We are delighted that Piping Hot Forres in only its second year has been shortlisted for this award. The event was brought to Moray by members of the Forres business community with support from all our sponsors and funders to help promote the area to the wider world to give an economic benefit for the betterment of the community and as such it has been widely embraced by the local community leading to a very successful event – providing not just a welcome boost to the local economy but also a great day out for the whole family. Fingers crossed for the night.”
And we wish them every success.

Digital partners

Website – Piping Hot Forres
The website received over 9000 pageviews a day as interest peaked for the piping event.

In 2012, we were asked to build the website for the event which would spend three years in Forres, 2103, 2014 and 2015. We worked with leading Edinburgh design agency Stuff Creative who provided the branding for the whole event, and title sponsors Benromach Distillery. We were also asked to provide media support on the day and this was delivered through a sponsorship package.
It’s worth noting how an event of this size relies so heavily on digital media. In its first year, the website naturally carried information about the event, details of advertisers and sponsors, instructions and application forms. We also provided training for the event organisers to be able to add and edit information themselves, and created a special mobile information page for the day.
In its second year, we added online ticket sales, a cloud document management system and an online stallholder application system. All these developments were designed to streamline processes, reduce paper documentation and collate information in one place.
We also created a feedback process which allowed the organisers to log all feedback in a spreadsheet and analyse demographic data.
On the day, we had a photographer on-site feeding a selection of engaging pics back to the social media team to put out on the day. This was especially relevant considering the 2014 event started out wet and damp, but turned into a glorious day by noon. We were able to show this with appropriate pictures.
Pipers at Piping Hot Forres
This crowd shot in Grant Park was seen by 10,000 people on Facebook

This picture taken at the end of the day which was a result of around ten telephoto shots stitched together received over 10,000 views on Facebook when it was posted immediately after the massed pipe band parade in Grant Park.
There’s one more event to go before Piping Hot Forres potentially leaves Moray, and if trends are anything to go by, it will be bigger and better than the previous years and both have been a hard act to follow. Word has it that it has been cited by those who frequent piping events as not only best European Championships, but the best piping event full stop.
The results will be announced at an event on Friday 7 November at the Kingsmills Hotel in Inverness.
The 2015 European Pipe Band Championships will be held in Grant Park, Forres on Saturday 27 June 2015.
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