---
title: Thinking Louder with Claire Prentice
date: 2024-10-18T11:41:00+01:00
author: Lucy Macdonald
canonical_url: "https://www.hampton.agency/latest/thinking-louder-with-claire-prentice"
section: News
---
![Claire Prentice](/imager/images/Events/19729/claire_cd5e2fb88af44202abf9f8d31497b7a6.jpg)       

 

 

 

## To finish our [Thinking Louder 2024](https://www.hampton.agency/news/events) series, we went BIG. Whole of Scotland big. 

We invited Head of [Brand Scotland](https://www.scotland.org/more-info/about-us), Claire Prentice, to our home in sunny Aberdeen to talk about branding nations, exploring storytelling and effective partnership working.

We asked Claire for some extra thinking on some of her favourite brands, how raising a laugh can raise your storytelling game and what her favourite place in Scotland is.

And obviously we saved the most important question for last. Why *is*Aberdeen so much better than Glasgow?

 

 

### Thinking Points

**“Nation branding is lots of things.** It essentially comes down to perception, to reputation, to what people think about a country and how it makes them feel. It’s a really, really important part of what we do at [Brand Scotland](https://www.scotland.org/more-info/about-us) because how audiences internationally feel about Scotland has a really strong impact on their decision making. Whether that is around studying in Scotland, visiting Scotland, setting up a business in Scotland. So, our nation brand is a really important part of that process.

“**When it comes to nation branding there are lots of countries who are doing it really well**. [Brand Tasmania](https://tasmanian.com.au/brand-tasmania/) are a small country like Scotland who are doing amazing things. The Nordic countries also do some fantastic work in this area, really authentic, powerful communications.

“**Having open conversations makes that collaborative space with partners really productive.** Having a cohesive brand, and consistency around that, and a really strong story to tell makes it much easier for the people that we work with to come together.

“**Humour is really important in storytelling, and I think in creative work and content in general**. At [Brand Scotland](https://www.scotland.org/more-info/about-us) we talk a lot about emotional connection and what it feels like to live in Scotland, and humour is a large part of how Scottish people connect with each other. Having that present in the stories we tell and the content that we produce is really important. It makes it feel authentic and true to Scotland.

“**Scotland’s Brand Marque is really important in how we connect our communications and how we present a cohesive presence internationally.** The brand marque itself has a lot of traits, it’s a thistle shape, it’s reflective of a kilt, it’s got echoes of Mackintosh in the typography so the marque itself is very true to Scotland. As a device it's really important across our partnerships in how we connect our communications, consistently and internationally, and start to build a visual identity for Scotland that’s recognizable and starts to become associated with the stories that we want to tell.

 

 

 > “There’s lots of amazing places in Scotland. The best place for me, is by the sea. I just think the coast of Scotland is amazing. I love the Isle of Mull, I love the coast of East Lothian and the Ayrshire coast. I think just that bracing Scotland by the sea, there’s just nothing better.”
> 
>  **Claire Prentice**

  

 

 

   [ ![Victoria Best Senior Brand Marketing Manager and James Bradley Visual Creative Director from Skyscanner](/imager/images/Events/21478/Web-assets-03_63d70511ee241778a449ec3196ffb3ba.jpg) 

### Thinking Louder with Skyscanner

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### Mind the (digital) gap: Websites that work for everyone

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