Farrar chosen ‘Scottish marketer of the year’

A SENIOR figure in the company behind famous whisky brands such as The Famous Grouse and Highland park has been chosen ‘Scotland’s marketer of the year’.

Bill Farrar – the group sales and marketing director at The Edrington Group – received the accolade at the Marketing Sociey Scotland Awards, held in Glasgow on Friday.

Bill has been with the group since 1989 and last year he led the acquisition of Brugal, one of the world’s major rum brands.

Said Graeme Atha, director of the Marketing Society Scotland: “Bill Farrar ticks all the boxes in terms of what makes a great marketer. He also a great profile in the business community and this award recognises the role he played in the ambitious acquisition of the Brugal brand last year.”

Accompanying Farrar’s win, The Famous Grouse was chosen ‘Best Scottish brand over the past 50 years’, to mark half a century of the Marketing Society.

With 27 categories up for grabs, other winners included Kate Gilmore, chosen as ‘Young marketer of the year.’ She works for Scottish Water company, Business Stream.

There were a record 191 entries across the 27 categories. Also among the winners were ScottishPower, Ignition Marketing, Elmwood, Tayburn/Tenon, Merle Agency, Story UK, VisitScotland, Golley Slater, MediaCom Scotland, Scottish & Newcastle, Denvir and OSL Canada.

The winners:

Brand development
ScottishPower
ScottishPower Marketing: Rising to the Challenge of 2008

International marketing
Ignition Marketing
Edrington Cathedrals

Internal marketing
Edrington Group
Highland Park – Boot Camp Training

Marketing capabilities
Elmwood
Elmwood Learning Culture

Professional services marketing
Tayburn / Tenon
Tenon – Putting brand strategy, identity and implementation at the heart of the business

Customer insight
The Leith Agency
Germs. Wash your hands of them

Cause-related and not-for-profit marketing
The Leith Agency
Germs. Wash your hands of them

Business innovation
The Edrington Group
The Famous Grouse – Also available in black

Design excellence

Ignition Marketing
The Macallan Cathedrals

Advertising excellence

Merle Agency
Whispering above the roar

Direct marketing excellence

Story UK
Ardbeg Blasda

Promotional excellence

VisitScotland
White Invite

Online excellence

S1
s1jobs 2.0

PR excellence

Golley Slater
The Piper’s Trail

Media excellence
MediaCom Scotland
Scottish Government: A Fatal Distraction

Sponsorship excellence
Scottish & Newcastle
The John Smith’s People’s Darts

Event excellence
Denvir
Tesco’s Enjoy the Taste of Scotland

Alan Frame Award for marketing Aechievement
Merle Agency