The man, the myth, the media - National Theatre of Scotland

Working as National Theatre of Scotland’s media agency, we have the pleasure of promoting incredible works of theatre all year round, and 2025 kicked off with the wonderful Through the Shortbread Tin.

A brand-new National Theatre of Scotland production, Through the Shortbread Tin explores Scottish culture, myths, history and identity, performed in Scots with Gaelic songs. Its debut tour saw the show travel across Scotland from 1st April to 2nd May, stopping in Melrose, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Ullapool, Stornoway, Portree, Dornie, Cumbernauld, Oban, Cove, Lerwick and Inverness.

From major cities to Shetland mainland, this production called for a multi-channel media approach, utilising key demographic targeting across digital platforms with hyper local press, OOH and postal distribution. 

Using a variety of prospecting and remarketing tactics, each refined by proximity targeting to serve more relevant localised ads, and a mix of creative to reduce risk of ad fatigue, Meta delivered CTR highs of 3.13%, averaging 1.20% across 300+ ad variations. Activity in central locations such as Edinburgh and Glasgow were paused early due to all performances in these areas selling out, highlighting Meta’s effectiveness in driving ticket sales.

A similar approach was taken for our other digital channels, Google and YouTube, using a combination of prospecting and remarketing audiences. Our digital strategy across Meta, Google, and YouTube generated over 5.6 million impressions, significantly boosting visibility for a brand-new production across diverse audiences.

Offline we focused on local press and postal distribution to ensure coverage in the more rural areas, with local OOH placements adopted across the Central Belt and Inverness. This combined approach helped deliver a more robust media strategy, ensuring that all relevant nooks and crannies of the Scottish landscape were covered.

As a result, an overall very successful campaign that helped 6 out of 12 venues, including Glasgow and Edinburgh, completely sell out – a huge achievement for a new show making its debut tour.