Marketing Projects Manager Vicky Bell tells Ensemble about a recent Tone of Voice Day in Glasgow.

At the end of 2024, we brought teams together for our Marketing Away Day – a chance for colleagues across the business to showcase our UK theatres and venues, share challenges, and spot new opportunities to better connect with audiences. Each venue left with a plan and were later awarded a budget to bring their ideas to life with projects we have been working on over the past nine months. 

As one of the newest venues to join the Group at this point, Glasgow identified tone of voice as a key focus. While we all speak the same language, Glasgow audiences respond best to a more informal, distinctly Glaswegian approach – something that our often more formal communications used for most venues didn’t always quite hit home and was sometimes a bit jarring to local audiences. 

So, the mission was clear: learn, adapt and give teams the confidence to take a few creative risks in communicating to our Glasgow audiences. 

The training session took place on 8 January. Our Glasgow VME, Scott Fillan, kicked things off with a brilliant introduction to the venue, the city and its culture – perfectly summed up by Glasgow’s own tagline, “People Make Glasgow”.  We were then treated to an entertaining (and eye-opening) session from local comedian Billy Kirkwood, who walked us through the city’s social and political landscape, including a vital lesson on never using blue, green or even orange in marketing where we can help this thanks to the Old Firm football rivalry. Noted! 

Nikki Anderson, Head of Campaigns for Cluster 1, followed with a campaign-focused look at Glasgow’s priorities for the year and the major city moments we need to tap into, including the Commonwealth Games this July. Then it was quiz time, hosted by our Glasgow Marketing & PR Consultant, Jess Brodie, who put our new knowledge to the test (you can try this yourself on the presentation link on page 25-27, answers page 28). 

Fuelled by Tunnock’s Tea Cakes and luminous Irn-Bru (which many of us agreed tasted suspiciously like bubblegum), we wrapped up with a hands-on copywriting session. Teams rewrote show copy, emails and socials for The Rocky Horror Show at varying levels of Glaswegian flair, which sounded hilarious but brilliant. 

The day finished in true Glaswegian style – watching the panto (oh yes we did!) and seeing first-hand just how lively and engaged these audiences are. A few of us even squeezed in a bus tour the next morning to explore more of the city and its history. 

We’ve had fantastic feedback and the materials from the day are now being shared across Teams and will also be used for new starter inductions for those working on Glasgow campaigns and communications. 

A huge thanks to Scott, Jess and Nikki for a belter of a day – we cannae wait to put it all into practice! 

Some links to get you in the spirit (trigger alert: there is swearing in these but all in good nature!)

Scottish slang with Gerard Butler!

Teaching Scottish slang with Craig Ferguson!

For anyone who would like to see the presentation or have a copy of the Glasgow Scottish cheat sheet, see this folder here: Training Day assets – If you don’t have access to the Sharepoint site please email [email protected] and I will send you a copy.