Rosie Gallagher from the Scotch Whisky Association talks to the third years at GCU
by Nick Bevens, Journalism Lecturer
Rosemary Gallagher was back at Glasgow Caledonian this week, but in a different guise.
In April, she was on campus to talk about life as a senior media relations officer at the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh; but this time she was here as the newly-appointed communications manager for the Scotch Whisky Association.
Also a former personal finance editor of The Scotsman, Rosie told third year Multimedia Journalism students taking the Advanced Reporting module that stories about the whisky industry – which is now worth some £3.5 billion a year to the Scottish economy – used to be traditionally covered by business news desks.
But only this week, the Association’s latest industry figures, showing whisky exports enjoyed a 22 per cent rise over the past six months with the equivalent of 570m bottles sold overseas after sales soared in Asia and South America, were reported on general news, politics and consumer news sections across Scotland, the UK and internationally, as well as their familiar slots on business pages.
The most unusual bit of coverage sparked by the export figures was a feature in Marie Claire magazine, which highlighted how the cult series Mad Men has helped boost sales of whisky, as characters Don Draper and Joan Holloway make it the stylish must-have drink for all of us.
According to latest research, the popularity of whisky has become a firm favourite with many younger drinkers, and now being dubbed ‘The Mad Men Effect’, analysts believe the increased demand is due to the style status it has achieved through the series.
Rosemary showed students the mechanics of putting together the official press statement and other information used in the figures announcement, and explained how she managed the process of arranging numerous media briefings in Edinburgh and London for the Association’s chief executive Gavin Hewitt.
She also gave an overview of what else she does as comms manager of such this important Scottish organisation which represents 56 different member distillers, bottlers and whisky agents including many household names such as Chivas Brothers, Glenmorangie and Diageo, the world’s biggest drinks company which owns brands such as Johhnie Walker.
The Scotch whisky industry continues to pack a hefty economic punch. It is now Scotland’s second largest export after oil and gas, she added, and employs 10,300 jobs, at 108 distilleries across the country, which export 34 bottles of whisky a second. The industry accounts for a quarter of all UK food and drink exports.
Rosemary highlighted how those distilleries now attract 1.3m visitors a year to taste the product and learn how it’s made.
“Scotch Whisky distilleries and visitor centres give a much-needed boost to the economy, the job market and bring growing numbers of international tourists to Scotland,” she said.
As well as all media activities, her job involves a hefty political and parliamentary lobbying element too, here and abroad, and she was just back from the Tory Party conference, after being at the Labour and Lib-Dem equivalents before that. Her communications priorities involve working on worldwide legal protection of the ‘Scotch’ brand, tackling tax and trade barriers in export markets, social issues such as responsible drinking, and industry regulation.
“It’s a really exciting job with so many different aspects to it,” she added.
It was a great presentation, which highlighted the many skills needed to handle a senior communications role.
The only regret was that Rosie failed to bring along any samples of the product.
Maybe just as well.
