1ANNUAL REPORT | 30.12.17 - 25.01.18

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In conceiving our inaugural programme for Edinburgh’s Hogmanay, we wanted to honour and build on the first 24 years of this amazing winter festival to ensure that the event continues to re-invent itself; to capture the world’s imagination; and to entrench Edinburgh’s position as the home of Hogmanay.

We wanted the event to continue to tell stories and paint pictures that imprint themselves on the world’s collective retina. New Year is the time when the world shuts the door on one year and opens it to the next. So when better to tell stories that both reflect and look forward? Where better to paint those pictures than against Edinburgh’s backdrop? And when better to do it than when the world looks to Edinburgh with its history of celebrating the New Year?

We wanted to engage the people of Scotland and our audiences in the event. The temptation at New Year is to put on an amazing display that will entertain and be spectated, but we also wanted people to get involved and toparticipate and so develop a more fulfilling, diverse and rich experience.

As one of Edinburgh’s Festivals, we wanted Edinburgh’s Hogmanay to be a creative festival: where artists take risks, collaborate and develop their work and careers on a global stage.

But above all, we know that Edinburgh’s Hogmanay belongs to Edinburgh: it’s when Edinburgh welcomes the world in and asks it to celebrate the New Year on its streets. So we wanted the event to involve the people of Edinburgh and for it to have long-lasting positive social, cultural and economic impacts both for the city and for Scotland.

So, in our first year of producing the event, we were delighted with so many outcomes: from the question that we asked Scotland and the answer that came back, which thousands of people lit up on Holyrood Park to mark the start of the Year of Young People: #BRAW; to the amazing atmosphere and moments that the Street Party creative team made up and down Princes Street. From Skye’s Niteworks’ special composition for the midnight fireworks (a Hogmanay first) to Rag’n’Bone Man’s singing of Auld Lang Syne; and to Val McDermid’s

unique collaboration on Message from the Skies.

We’re delighted by the increased economic impact of the event on Edinburgh and Scotland; to be an event that both encourages people to visit and creates employment in the city; to have people from 80 countries buy tickets for the event but also see a strong local audience that engages with events such as Bairns Afore - a new event for Hogmanay - the Loony Dook and the Message from the Skies competition. We’re very proud of the volunteering opportunities that we created with the Hogmanay Ambassador scheme and we’re pleased to see an event that directly employs so many people. We were delighted to see Edinburgh rise in our survey of newspapers around the world and which cities’ New Year celebrations they report on; and to see the press and social media statistics to see how the world is talking about Edinburgh’s Hogmanay.

These outcomes are detailed in this report, which we hope you find interesting. And of course, we look forward to welcoming you to Edinburgh’s Hogmanay 19.

Ed Bartlam and Charlie WoodDirectors of Edinburgh’s Hogmanay

INTRODUCTIONFOREWORDThere is no better place in the world to celebrate Hogmanay than in Edinburgh. Over the last 25 years Edinburgh’s Hogmanay has gone from strength to strength, welcoming millions of visitors to the city to enjoy everything it has to offer. With 2017 being the 70th anniversary of Edinburgh as a festival city, it was appropriate that 2018 kicked off with the biggest party ever staged with a line-up that was second to none. While favourites such as the Torchlight Procession and Loony Dook in South Queensferry were ever present, new events such as Bairns Afore and Message from the Sky brought a new dimension to the celebrations, the latter in particular helping to spread the benefits of this festival around the city. The centre piece of it all, of course, was the world-famous Street Party. From internationally renowned artists to local bands, aerial acrobatics, parkour, and entertainment on podiums and stages throughout the arena, there really was something for everyone, whatever their tastes. And let’s not forget the spectacular extended firework display, which was beamed to an audience of over 1 billion people in 150 countries! We know from the Edinburgh People’s Survey that the vast majority of residents think the festivals are a good thing, helping to raise the profile of the city internationally while also delivering programmes that they enjoy. Edinburgh’s Hogmanay plays a key part in our year-round festival offering and, importantly, it also delivers real economic impact for the city and for Scotland as a whole, benefitting tourism, hospitality and leisure sectors in particular. And of course, this results in jobs and opportunities for our young people. The City of Edinburgh Council has been involved in Edinburgh’s Hogmanay since 1993 and we are proud to support this important event, both financially and operationally. Our congratulations to all involved for a great first year from Underbelly - I’m already looking forward to bringing in the bells when we enter 2019! Cllr Donald Wilson, Convener of the Culture and Communities Committee, City of Edinburgh Council

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PROGRAMME SUMMARYTORCHLIGHT PROCESSION 30.12.17

Edinburgh’s Hogmanay was kicked off by the Torchlight Procession with a new route from the High Street, North Bridge and South Bridge down the Royal Mile past the Scottish Parliament and the Palace of Holyroodhouse, and into Holyrood Park, which for the first time allowed a capacity crowd of over 19,000 ticket-holders and 20,000 spectators to gather together for the finale, with fireworks from Calton Hill.

Marking the start of the Year of Young People, over 200 young musicians performed and helped the procession keep pace, including Leith-based samba drummers Pulse of the Place, the Boghall & Bathgate Caledonia Juvenile Pipe Band, Preston Lodge High School Pipe Band, Whitburn Youth Band and the Hawick Scout Pipe Band. The procession was met at the gates of Holyroodhouse by the winner of 2017’s Pipe Idol contest, 17-year-old Robbie MacIsaac from Falkirk.

The procession was led by Edinburgh’s Lord Provost and by the young members of the 2017 Jarl Squad of Vikings from Shetland, including one who was just five years old.

The climax of the procession was the spelling out, with thousands of torches, of one word, on a huge scale across the width of the Park, to herald the start of Scotland’s Year of Young People 2018. The word, #BRAW, was the result of the nationwide engagement project #ScotWord, in which the young people of Scotland were asked to answer the question, ‘What makes you proud to live in Scotland?’, and the winning word was decided by an online, public vote.

Many thanks to mass choreographers Gina Martinez and Rocky Smith, who lead the formation of #BRAW, to Historic Environment Scotland for the use of Holyrood Park, to the Palace of Holyroodhouse, and to the Scottish Parliament whose Presiding Officer joined the Procession as it passed the Parliament building.

HOGMANAY CELEBRATIONS 31.12.17

The Hogmanay Celebrations on 31 December were Underbelly’s main focus in its first year to reimagine the event and to remind the world of Edinburgh as the home of Hogmanay.

STREET PARTYMartin Green (Head of Ceremonies, London 2012; Chief Executive, Hull City of Culture) came on board as Executive Producer and brought together a world-leading team of creatives including Dan Jones (Sound), Struan Leslie (Street Party Director), Ala Loyd (Design), Durham Marenghi (Lighting) and James O’Brien (Broadcast) to re-vamp the Street Party through the use of light, sound, stages, screens and performance.

Audiences were greeted through giant doorway entrances by three huge “Greetin’ Grannies”, by Leith-based puppet creators Vision Mechanics, to welcome attendees with a hug and a nod to the Scottish tradition of first footing. From there Scottish country dancers led them through

the moves of the Dashing White Sergeant and the Gay Gordons, ahead of our first collective moment at 8pm – the Big Dance.

Up and down the street, a variety of performers entertained audiences, including Access Parkour performers from Leith; Edinburgh-based fire performers Pyroceltica; cyr wheel duo Alulacyr; circus and physical theatre company Delighters; and All or Nothing, Scotland’s ground-breaking aerial performance company, who presented spectacular choreographed performances on the facades of the Mercure Hotel and the Regus Building. The Diva & District Pipes and Drums, a 30-strong all-female band formed specially for the Street Party by the Lord Provost’s piper, Louise Marshall, performed a medley of rock and pop covers along Princes Street, and staged a drum battle with LED drumming group Spark. Sanjeev Kohli (Still Game, River City) was the perfect party host, keeping everybody entertained throughout the evening and with Edinburgh’s Got Soul Choir, led the crowd in a show-stopping performance of Queen’s Don’t Stop Me Now, relayed to screens around the arena for our second big collective moment – the mass singalong Big Sing.

Three music stages along the Street kept the party going with iconic The Human League, Skye-based electronic Celtic fusion group Niteworks and Scottish Album of the Year-winners Sacred Paws on a new supersized

stage on Waverley Bridge. Barns Courtney, the infectiously high-octane party band Colonel Mustard and the Dijon Five and Celtic fusion band Treacherous Orchestra performed on a new stage outside the Balmoral Hotel; (neither of them letting the previous night’s Storm Dylan take anything away other than the back wall of the stage!) And finally, on a futuristic, elevated stage on Castle Street, Huey Morgan and Edinburgh-born DJs The Mac Twins spun party tunes from 9pm to 1am, with Morgan bringing the whole crowd together for the 10pm collective disco moment, with David Bowie’s Let’s Dance and Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean.

MIDNIGHT FIREWORKSThe midnight fireworks were designed by Titanium and were, for the first time ever, choreographed to a commissioned soundtrack by Niteworks (also playing on the Waverley Stage). They were extended to 9 minutes long, bringing Edinburgh more in line with other international displays such as London (11 minutes) and Sydney (12 minutes).

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CONCERT IN THE GARDENSThe Concert in the Gardens was headlined by man of the year Rag’n’Bone Man who led the whole of the Concert, the Ceilidh and the Street Party in a spectacular rendition of Auld Lang Syne at the end of the fireworks and the last collective moment of the evening.

CEILIDH UNDER THE CASTLE, BAIRNS AFORE & CANDLELIT CONCERT The Ceilidh was moved to under the Castle, next to the Ross Fountain, to give dancers the best view of the fireworks and to dance under the most iconic and internationally recognised symbol of Scotland. Heilan Crew, The Occasionals and Kipper Ceilidh led the ceilidh with over 20 local dancers on hand to lead novices

through the steps.

Bairns Afore was an important new addition to the programme, giving families the opportunity to celebrate together at a concert in Princes Street Gardens followed by a fireworks display over the Castle and all afore bedtime. Dizney Rascal provided the pre-fireworks entertainment.

The annual Candlelit Concert was held in the atmospheric setting of St Giles’ Cathedral, with the St Giles’ Cathedral Choir directed by Michael Harris and the St Giles’ Camerata led by Angus Ramsay opening with J.S. Bach’s Lutheran Mass in F - a fitting end to the 500th anniversary of the Reformation.

LOONY DOOK - 01.01.18 1,100 hardy souls washed away the night before and leapt into the icy waters of the Firth of Forth at South Queensferry, taking part in the annual Loony Dook tradition, led by Councillor Donald Wilson, Convener of the Culture and Communities Committee as well as Ed and Charlie! Thousands of spectators lined the streets to cheer on the brave and the bold ‘dookers’, from 21 countries around the world.

MESSAGE FROM THE SKIES 01.01.18 - 25.01.18 For the first time, Edinburgh’s Hogmanay was extended to meet Burns Night with Message from the Skies - a nightly, free to attend projection of a new short story by Scottish author Val McDermid onto

12 of Edinburgh’s buildings - a piece designed to celebrate and promote Edinburgh’s position as the first UNESCO City of Literature.

The realisation of Val’s story, New Year’s Resurrection, was produced by a set of unusual and creative collaborations between Val and other artists from multiple disciplines, including Philip Howard, Dramaturg and Director; architectural projection mapping specialists Double Take Projections; Leith-based graffiti artist Elph; and three of Scotland’s leading composers and sound designers: Michael John McCarthy, RJ McConnell and Pippa Murphy, who created music and sound design for various of the chapters, featuring singer Karine Polwart and

harpist Corrina Hewat. Message from the Skies was inspired by a line from a poem by Robert Burns – Sketch New Year’s Day. To Mrs Dunlop (1790), and New Year’s Resurrection quite literally shone new light on a contemporary of Burns: the Edinburgh-born novelist Susan Ferrier (1782-1854), a hugely popular writer in her day, regarded as an equal of Jane Austen, but whose reputation has long been overshadowed by that of her male contemporaries. New Year’s Resurrection was Ferrier’s revenge, picked up and concluded by Muriel Spark in her centenary year.

A mobile app built by Edinburgh’s Odd Panda guided users through

the chapters and locations of McDermid’s story and translated the story into seven languages: French, German, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin, Polish and Spanish. The app was supported by the Edinburgh Festivals Tourism Innovation Fund and by Edinburgh Airport and there were over 35,000 sessions on the app.

The project was also a collaboration by Edinburgh’s Hogmanay and Edinburgh International Book Festival who co-commissioned the piece in partnership with Edinburgh UNESCO City of Literature Trust; and the project was funded by Creative Scotland through the Scottish Government’s Edinburgh Festivals EXPO fund.

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DEMOGRAPHICSNUMBER OF COUNTRIES FROM WHICH PEOPLE BOOKED = 80

GEOGRAPHICAL

OTHER UKINTERNATIONALEDINBURGH

OTHER SCOTLANDLOTHIANS (EAST LOTHIAN, MIDLOTHIAN AND WEST LOTHIAN)

44%25%17%

11%3%

44% 25% 17% 11% 3%

89,508TICKETED ATTENDANCE FOR ALL EDINBURGH’S HOGMANAY 18 EVENTS

165,994OVERALL ATTENDANCE FOR ALL EDINBURGH’S HOGMANAY 18 EVENTS

ECONOMIC IMPACTECONOMIC IMPACT ON EDINBURGH IN 2017/18 WAS £39.2M

INCREASING BY 40.5% FROM £27.9M when last measured in 2010

IMPACT ON SCOTLAND WAS £39.8M INCREASING BY 22.8% FROM £32.4M

when last measured in 2010

PRESS & MEDIA

360 PIECES IN PRINT 201 RADIO PIECES reaching approximately 141 million listeners

37 PIECES OF TV COVERAGE reaching approximately 89 million viewers

2,017 ONLINE ARTICLES reaching over 10 billion readers in UK and beyond.

EDINBURGH’S HOGMANAY ROSE FROM 17TH IN 2017 TO JOINT 7TH IN THE WORLD’S MEDIA COVERAGE OF NEW YEAR

SOCIAL & DIGITAL REACH

20.4% INCREASE in Facebook likesBest performing posts = videosAVERAGE REACH 100,255

9.5% INCREASE in Twitter followers@edhogmanay and campaign hashtagsMENTIONED 87,105 TIMESPotential impressions over 100 million people

13,358 on Instagram Edinburgh’s Hogmanay website 2,427,559 PAGEVIEWS

AVERAGE NUMBER OF NIGHTS SPENT IN SCOTLAND (INC THOSE SPENT IN EDINBURGH)

4.3

85% OF VISITORS RATED EVENTS GOOD OR VERY GOOD

AND 9% AS AVERAGE (54% RATED VERY GOOD)

AVERAGE NUMBER OF NIGHTS SPENT IN EDINBURGH

3.4

EMPLOYMENT & ENGAGEMENT

KEY FACTS & FIGURES

AUDIENCE2,818 people employed or engaged

by Edinburgh’s Hogmanay

2,633young people participated in #ScotWord

workshops across the country

AGE

16-26 27-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65-74 75+

28.5%

15%26.3%

18.1%

2.1% 0.1%10%

Sources: Ticketing data and BOP Consulting survey (sample size: 5,327)

DEMOGRAPHICSNUMBER OF COUNTRIES FROM WHICH PEOPLE BOOKED = 80

GEOGRAPHICAL

OTHER UKINTERNATIONALEDINBURGH

OTHER SCOTLANDLOTHIANS (EAST LOTHIAN, MIDLOTHIAN AND WEST LOTHIAN)

44%25%17%

11%3%

44% 25% 17% 11% 3%

89,508TICKETED ATTENDANCE FOR ALL EDINBURGH’S HOGMANAY 18 EVENTS

165,994OVERALL ATTENDANCE FOR ALL EDINBURGH’S HOGMANAY 18 EVENTS

ECONOMIC IMPACTECONOMIC IMPACT ON EDINBURGH IN 2017/18 WAS £39.2M

INCREASING BY 40.5% FROM £27.9M when last measured in 2010

IMPACT ON SCOTLAND WAS £39.8M INCREASING BY 22.8% FROM £32.4M

when last measured in 2010

PRESS & MEDIA

360 PIECES IN PRINT 201 RADIO PIECES reaching approximately 141 million listeners

37 PIECES OF TV COVERAGE reaching approximately 89 million viewers

2,017 ONLINE ARTICLES reaching over 10 billion readers in UK and beyond.

EDINBURGH’S HOGMANAY ROSE FROM 17TH IN 2017 TO JOINT 7TH IN THE WORLD’S MEDIA COVERAGE OF NEW YEAR

SOCIAL & DIGITAL REACH

20.4% INCREASE in Facebook likesBest performing posts = videosAVERAGE REACH 100,255

9.5% INCREASE in Twitter followers@edhogmanay and campaign hashtagsMENTIONED 87,105 TIMESPotential impressions over 100 million people

13,358 on Instagram Edinburgh’s Hogmanay website 2,427,559 PAGEVIEWS

AVERAGE NUMBER OF NIGHTS SPENT IN SCOTLAND (INC THOSE SPENT IN EDINBURGH)

4.3

85% OF VISITORS RATED EVENTS GOOD OR VERY GOOD

AND 9% AS AVERAGE (54% RATED VERY GOOD)

AVERAGE NUMBER OF NIGHTS SPENT IN EDINBURGH

3.4

EMPLOYMENT & ENGAGEMENT

KEY FACTS & FIGURES

AUDIENCE2,818 people employed or engaged

by Edinburgh’s Hogmanay

2,633young people participated in #ScotWord

workshops across the country

AGE

16-26 27-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65-74 75+

28.5%

15%26.3%

18.1%

2.1% 0.1%10%

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At the start of Scotland’s Year of Young People, Edinburgh’s Hogmanay led with two engagement projects to encourage young people to participate: #ScotWord and the Message from the Skies writing competition.

We particularly wanted the engagement projects to help further the goals of the Year: giving young people a platform to express themselves through culture and have their views heard; letting young people across Scotland take the lead and gain skills and confidence; showcasing young creative talent across the media; and encouraging respect between generations. As a major international event, Hogmanay helped young people to be writ large to the world.

#SCOTWORD The climax of the Torchlight Procession on Holyrood Park was the spelling out by thousands of torches of #BRAW, heralding the start of Scotland’s Year of Young People 2018 and the culmination of the #ScotWord engagement programme, answering the question ‘What makes you proud to live in Scotland?’.

In Scotland, with its proud history of discourse and with the voting age at 16, #ScotWord was about fostering debate. So following a co-design workshop with a group of young people, we recruited 26 #ScotWord Champions, aged between 16 and 26, to lead a number of workshops in their

local authorities, introducing the #ScotWord project to young people and leading the debate. How do they feel about their country? What makes them proud to live here? And what are their hopes for Scotland’s future? And then boiling all that down to the workshop’s choice of #ScotWord.

In collaboration with the City of Edinburgh Council’s Creative Arts and Learning department, we developed a range of resource kits for the workshops, copies of which were distributed to every school in Scotland.

The 26 #ScotWord Champions led a total of 106 workshops with 2,633 young people participating in diverse locations across the country.

In all, 633 submissions were made for #ScotWord; and our Champions, through heated but respectful and intelligent debate decided on a shortlist of 7 words: ALIVE, BONNIE, BRAW, CULTURE, DIVERSE, HAME and WELCOME. An online public vote in early December gave everyone in Scotland the opportunity to choose the final #ScotWord from the shortlist.

#BRAW was spelled out by torchlight at the finale of the procession, with aerial footage relayed from a helicopter, and images shared widely on social media, in the press and broadcast media.

ENGAGEMENT

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MESSAGE FROM THE SKIES Complementing the Message from the Skies project and in another celebration of the Year of Young People, Edinburgh’s Hogmanay ran a short story competition, open to young people aged 18 and under living in the EH, FK and KY postcodes, inviting stories inspired by Edinburgh.

With support from the City of Edinburgh Council’s Creative Arts and Learning department, resource kits with tips on how to write a short story were were sent to every school in the participating areas; and Val

McDermid led a video calling young people to action.

Over 200 young people entered and a panel of Andy ‘Boogie’ Bouglas and Arlene Stuart (Forth 1), Janet Smyth – Children and Education Programme Director, Edinburgh International Book Festival, and Ali Bowden, Director of the Edinburgh UNESCO City of Literature Trust selected three winners, whose stories were projected on to buildings between 2 and 25 January, ahead of the main presentation of New Year’s Resurrection.

11-year-old Lucy Hutcheon, from Davidson Mains Primary School won the Primary School category with a story called The Blind Watchmaker.

12-year-old Maisie Dalton, from Balerno High School won the S1 – S3 category with a poem called Edinburgh.

And 16-year-old Jemma Glover, also from Balerno High School, won the S4-S6 category with a short story called Creatures of the Capital.

HOGMANAY AMBASSADORS PROGRAMMEThe Hogmanay Ambassadors Programme was devised to create valuable experiences for those volunteering; and to open up the event to a more diverse range of people to experience and participate in Scotland’s New Year festival, creating a community of volunteers welcoming visitors to the home of Hogmanay.

In total, 55 people volunteered with 31 taking part in the Torchlight Procession and 24 at the Street Party.

The programme proved a great success with excellent feedback from volunteers about their experience – 92% stated they would volunteer at Edinburgh’s Hogmanay again.

The programme introduced a number of people to volunteering, with 40% volunteering for the first time.

The age range was diverse with 29% aged between 18 and 24; 38% between 25 and 44; and 33% between 45 and 74. 30 were from Edinburgh, 16 from the rest of Scotland, 7 from other parts of the UK and 2 were international volunteers.

EMPLOYMENT AT EDINBURGH’S HOGMANAY

VOLUNTEERING AND EMPLOYMENT

Firstly being part of the team that brought a vision to life. And, secondly, being able to engage and enjoy some moments with strangers from many countries who were there enjoying themselves at the culmination of that vision. Superb.

Great team, lovely people and we had fun. It was really nice that Charlie and Ed from Underbelly spoke to us and were interested in us - made us feel very involved and appreciated.

Getting that backstage experience and being involved in such an amazing event.

How special they made you feel being part of the event.... a lot of fun!

“

Edinburgh’s Hogmanay provides significant employment in Edinburgh. As producer of Edinburgh’s Hogmanay, Underbelly directly employed or engaged 375 temporary or permanent members of staff; 605 artists and support staff; and its contractors accredited a further 636 staff to the event. In addition, 1,177 security personnel were contracted for the event. In total, there were 2,813 paid for staff, directly employed or engaged on Edinburgh’s Hogmanay 18. This number excludes employees from City of Edinburgh Council, Police Scotland, Scottish Ambulance Service, Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.

All staff at Edinburgh’s Hogmanay were paid the National Living Wage, regardless of age; and there were no zero hour contracts.

“I’m in shock, I never expected to win. I can’t stop shaking with excitement!

I am delighted, it means a lot that other people will be able to read my writing. I hope I have made my city, my home proud.

“I’m so happy! I can’t believe my story was chosen. It feels great to know that people enjoy what I write.

“

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A donation of 50p was made from every ticket purchased for the Torchlight Procession to One City Trust, which is committed to fighting inequality and exclusion in Edinburgh, with additional donations made online.

A donation of £1 was made from every ticket sold for the Loony Dook to RNLI South Queensferry, with additional donations made online.

A donation was also made to St Cuthbert’s Church in recognition of their support of Message from the Skies, to help their work with Bethany Trust and the homeless over the winter months.

A 20% discount on Street Party tickets was made available to 5,000 residents with an EH postcode; and events including the Torchlight Procession, #Scotword and Message from the Skies were free to attend. Including the cost of these events, the overall value of the community benefit was £546,210 comprising the following:

Value of EH discount £22,855Value of charitable donations

£15,136

Cost of free events £508,219Total £546,210

BOP Consulting was commissioned to undertake an Economic Impact study of Edinburgh’s Hogmanay. This economic impact assessment follows the publication of an impact assessment that BOP Consulting undertook for Edinburgh’s Hogmanay as part of Festivals Edinburgh in 2010, and their analysis of Edinburgh’s Hogmanay is based on the same methodology.

The key information sources for the study were an online survey completed by 5,236 attendees at Edinburgh’s Hogmanay and quantitative management and box office information.

The analysis assesses the contribution made by Edinburgh’s Hogmanay to Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) Employment and additional output, at the geographic levels of both Edinburgh and Scotland, where applicable. The calculated economic impact of Edinburgh’s Hogmanay on Edinburgh in 2017/18 was £39.2m in terms of additional output, increasing by 40.5% from £27.9m, when last measured in 2010; and the impact on Scotland in these terms was £39.8m, increasing by 22.8% from £32.4m, when last measured in 2010.

In terms of employment, the calculated economic impact equates to 826 full time jobs in Edinburgh (compared to 589 when measured in 2010) and 920 FTE in Scotland (FTE in Scotland was not measured in 2010).

The media response to the revamped Edinburgh’s Hogmanay celebrations was unanimously positive. Beyond photos capturing the spirit of the event, newspapers commented on various elements. The Sunday Post called it “a belter of a Hogmanay Party” listing elements which marked it out as fantastic including, “the never-ending stunning firework display that blasted the skies above Edinburgh Castle”.

The Australian Times summed it up, calling Edinburgh’s Hogmanay “unparalleled”, and quoting an Australian tourist as saying “Edinburgh’s vibe around the city is electric. I’ve never experienced anything like it.” STV said “Hogmanay hailed a triumph” and The Sun referenced the many revellers in Edinburgh there to “enjoy the atmosphere of the Street Party.” The Brisbane Times referenced the “spectacular river of fire” of the Torchlight Procession, ABC Spain referred to the “colourful” fireworks while WN in Germany focused on “A reading experience of a very special kind” at Message From the Skies.

Dave Pollock reviewed the 31st December celebrations for The Scotsman remarking“In the end, what clicked about this year’s Hogmanay celebrations was the way everything which had worked in the past was maintained with careful attention to detail, while everything around the fringes was agreeably accentuated.”

Talking about Rag’n’Bone Man’s appearance and the songs Human and Skin, he noted “the fact two such

touchstones of 2017 were involved felt in tune with a Hogmanay now fiercely focused on how it presents itself to the rest of the world.”

Stephen Dalton from the Times reviewed the Street Party calling it “a fine way to welcome 2018”.

Scotland on Sunday reported on the Torchlight Procession including a quote from Jyothi Mani, 42, from India, who was visiting the city for the first time, and said: “I hadn’t really heard a lot of Edinburgh other than that it is a lot of fun to be here for the New Year. It’s been awesome so far- the tradition and culture have been amazing and I want to know much more about it.”

Neil Cooper in the Herald remarked “At its best, it is like peering not just at the grand facades of buildings, but into the two-faced psyche of a nation’s literary history… If Edinburgh feels like a ghost town at this time of year, for three weeks at least, all life is here.” Of the Street Party and the Concert in the Gardens, he called them “A joyous start to the year.”

In The Scotsman, Joyce McMillan wrote that the new artistic production Message from the Skies was “a powerful piece of storytelling, combined with installation art… a rich and brilliant introduction to the city and to its literary heritage, as well as to a lost tradition of female writing long overdue for recognition. Like all the best New Year’s events, this one casts its own special light on the sheer beauty and drama of Edinburgh’s urban landscape.”

COMMUNITY BENEFIT ECONOMIC IMPACT CRITICAL RESPONSE

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The social and digital campaign for Edinburgh’s Hogmanay focused mainly on digital channels Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and the Edinburgh’s Hogmanay website using a combination of organic content and paid for social promotions. We saw our digital footprint increase across the board during the period from July 2017 at the programme launch to January 2018.

On Twitter the handle @edhogmanay received 76,800 tweets with potential combined impressions of 62.2million, and the campaign hashtags #EdHogmanay, #LoonyDook18, #braw, #messagefromtheskies and #Scotword saw 10,305 mentions with potential combined impressions of 39.4 million. On Facebook the best performing posts were videos seeing an average reach of 100,255 people and average engagement (clicks, comments and shares) of 8,214.

Top countries engaging with the social and digital content were; United Kingdom, USA, Australia, Germany, France, Spain, Ireland, the Netherlands and Brazil.

SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT

60 photographers, 95 broadcast media and 24 bloggers attended Edinburgh’s Hogmanay. Among the countries represented by visiting media were Germany, France, USA, China, India and New Zealand.

PRINT360 articles in print mentioned Edinburgh’s Hogmanay. 23% appeared in Edinburgh publications, 54% Scottish national, 10% rest of the UK and 13% international.

177 different publications covered Edinburgh’s Hogmanay in print and included: Sunday Times, The Guardian, Metro, The Sun, Daily Mail, The Scotsman, The Herald, Press and Journal, West Highland Free Press, Westifalische Nacrichten, i-on, NME, One Magazine, Shenzen Airlines, New York Times and Pittsburg Post Gazette. 45 front pages were secured.

ONLINEOver 1,700 different online outlets covered Edinburgh’s Hogmanay in 2,017 pieces.

Of the 2,017 pieces of coverage, almost 24% of the online articles targeted Edinburgh, Scotland and UK audiences and 76% were more internationally targeted.

Edinburgh’s Hogmanay was covered in 68 countries including USA, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Australia, Singapore, UAE, Israel, China, India and Canada.

BROADCASTRADIO201 radio pieces covered Edinburgh’s Hogmanay across BBC Radio 2 Breakfast show, BBC 6 Music, BBC 5 Live, and BBC Radio Scotland across various programmes. Commercial radio saw Edinburgh’s Hogmanay picked up across Forth, Absolute Radio, Amazing Radio, Wave 102, GTFM, XFM London, as well as others.

TVOver 30 television packages featured Edinburgh’s Hogmanay including live coverage on BBC, STV, ITV and Sky News on the 30th and 31st December.

BBC Breakfast and London Live

TV picked up the Torchlight Procession; and BBC Scotland and STV covered pre-event launches and updates as well as broadcasting substantial coverage across the three-day festival.

WORLD RANKINGA key measure for how we’re performing is to understand how much media outlets around the world are talking about Edinburgh’s Hogmanay and re-telling our stories. We therefore developed a survey to analyse newspaper coverage on 31 December and 1 January in the 19 countries with the most popular inbound routes into Edinburgh Airport.

We’re delighted to report that coverage of Edinburgh’s Hogmanay celebrations moved from equal 17th in 2016/17 to 7th in 2017/18. Whilst we know this is an empirical measurement and there will be myriad ways of understanding how other countries view us, it is a useful barometer to understand international profile.

PRESS & MEDIA COVERAGE

20.4% INCREASE in Facebook likes

9.5% INCREASE in followers

13,358 on Instagram

Edinburgh’s Hogmanay website 2,427,559 PAGEVIEWS780,242 UNIQUE SESSIONS

The press and media campaign for Edinburgh’s Hogmanay 18 generated:

360 PIECES IN PRINT PR value of over £7 million

201 RADIO PIECES reaching approximately 141 million listeners

37 PIECES OF TV COVERAGE reaching approximately 89 million viewers

2,017 ONLINE ARTICLES reaching over 10 billion readers in UK and beyond.

EDINBURGH’S HOGMANAY ROSE FROM 17TH IN 2017 TO JOINT 7TH IN THE WORLD’S MEDIA COVERAGE OF NEW YEAR

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CHARITY PARTNERS

Edinburgh’s Hogmanay is a member of the Festivals Edinburgh Environmental Sustainability Working Group, through which we work closely with Creative Carbon Scotland and the other major festivals to learn and share best practice and experiences.

Underbelly has been awarded ISO 20121 Sustainability Management System and continually set targets to improve our sustainability across the company’s activities. We are developing our systems to monitor power, water, waste and recycling volumes and associated carbon emissions. We are also monitoring staff and artist travel to build a picture of Edinburgh’s Hogmanay carbon footprint and are working with Creative Carbon Scotland to develop a Carbon Management Plan.

In 2017-18 we encouraged our visitors to use public transport and developed partnerships with Edinburgh Trams and Lothian Buses.

94% of waste collected from our sites was recycled through our waste management company’s industry-leading Materials Recycling Facility which efficiently separates and recovers recyclable and reusable materials.

All bars use biodegradable cups and food traders are encouraged to use compostable vegware.

34% of the Edinburgh’s Hogmanay income came from public sector funding and 66% was from commercial sources of revenue including ticketing and sponsorship income.

Edinburgh’s Hogmanay is principally funded by City of Edinburgh Council with additional funding from EventScotland’s International Fund, Scotland’s Winter Festival Fund and the Year of Young People Signature Event Fund and Creative Scotland through the Scottish Government’s Edinburgh Festivals EXPO fund.

We are very grateful to all our sponsors and partners including the Edinburgh Festivals Tourism Innovation Fund, Edinburgh Airport, Carlsberg and Edinburgh Gin; and to Edinburgh Trams and Lothian Buses who once again provided free transport home at the end of the 31 December celebration.

Also a massive thank you to all the people on the ground who made the events happen on the days and nights, especially Underbelly’s staff and crew, City of Edinburgh Council, Police Scotland, Scottish Ambulance Service and Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.

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2026 Frederick Street, Edinburgh, EH2 2JR | 36-38 Hatton Garden, London, EC1N 8EB