Focus on Scotland: 30 May

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Publishing: 30 May

Advertising deadline: 14 May

Submissions deadline: 8 May

Contact Simon Gwynn (simon.gwynn@thegrocer.co.uk)

The Story

Oh dear! It’s been a bad year for Scottish whisky. According to the Scottish Whisky Association, a decade of strong growth in exports has finally come to an end. So, what is behind the decline in exports? And, how are other well-known food and drink exports performing?

Key themes

Exports: This will be the main focus of the feature, which will explore in detail the export markets for well-known Scottish products, including whisky and salmon (which became the UK’s number one export this year). Which markets are struggling? Which ones present untapped opportunities and for which products? Given the fall in whisky’s exports, the drink will be a major focus.

The new face of Scotland: A number of non-traditional Scottish foods are gathering pace, such as Scottish gin, seaweed and craft beer. What is behind the increasing popularity of these products? Who’s tapping into the market? And, can these products become the new face of Scotland?

The domestic market: This feature will pay close attention to the performance of Scotland’s domestic food & drink market over the past year, comparing the performance with the rest of the UK. Particular focus will be paid to how health trends such as the war on sugar are impacting performance.

Innovation: This will be key to this feature. We will be investigating how new product development has shaped the category over the past year and what is in store for shoppers in 2015. We will be profiling four of the most interesting launches in a separate innovation panel.

Promotions: This feature will explore how the promotional strategies of retailers and brands have changed over the past year. Attention will be paid to the promotional strategies of retailers and how this has affected average prices over the past year.

Advertising and marketing: This feature will also investigate how the marketing and advertising strategies of the category’s biggest brands have evolved over the past year and how they will develop in the coming year to sustain growth or return brands to growth.

Scottish Food & Drink Excellence Awards: Who won at the Awards on Wednesday 27th May?

Health: Scots are famous for their love of deep-fried Mars Bars, Irn Bru and whisky but are they really as unhealthy as the stereotype portrays? We use Harris Interactive data to determine this.