“We want to innovate and think outside the box”: Caroline Reid on her approach to brand licensing for National Trust for Scotland

For anyone new to National Trust for Scotland, how you describe the identity and ‘DNA’ of the brand?
The National Trust for Scotland has been caring for many of Scotland’s most-loved places, treasures and experiences for nearly 100 years. Our purpose is to protect, care for, share and speak up for Scotland’s magnificent heritage – being both a charity and Scotland’s largest membership organisation.

We welcome over 4.5 million visitors each year to our places – including iconic landscapes like Glencoe, fairytale castles like The Pink Castle (Craigievar) and Great Scots’ homes like Burn’s birthplace and Mackintosh’s house. With countless examples, we have stunning gardens, beautiful artwork and possibly the most bizarre building in Scotland – our ‘Pineapple’ at Dunmore Park!

We’re a ‘Scottish to the core’ organisation who take sharing our love of Scotland seriously – but we like to do things differently and enjoy showcasing our sense of humour too! Like many, we have environmental pledges – ensuring we protect the planet so that future generations can continue to enjoy Scotland as we do today.

Terrific! And what are some of your key aims and ambitions for the brand?
We know that there is huge affinity for all things Scottish much further afield than our borders. Not everyone can make it to our places – and so we want people to be able to enjoy an authentic slice of Scotland and continue to support us wherever they are geographically.

Brand licensing is really important for us commercially too. As a charity, all profits from licensing will be passed to the Trust to continue to preserve Scotland’s places and collections for future generations. We’ll do this in the right way – with licensing partners who take care to develop authentic and meaningful products; sourced carefully and responsibly; and helping achieve our mission of sharing the stories of Scotland for everyone to enjoy.

What has the process been like to get ‘licensing-ready’?
We’ve spent about 18 months working carefully through how we can add value and develop our identity from a brand licensing point of view. We don’t want to be a “me too” licensor.

We want licensing to be integrated in the Trust – and so have worked to engage our existing commercial and marketing teams along with curators, architects, legal teams and site experts. Our aim is to be ‘one Trust’ for partners.

“There is huge affinity for all things Scottish much further afield than our borders.”

And what has that process looked like from a creative standpoint?
We haven’t actually spent a lot of time focused on style-guides – which we know isn’t the norm for established licensors! We have spent a lot of time with our initial partners helping curate and create bespoke unique product using our places and assets as inspiration.

Over time we do plan to develop some guides, but for now the most important thing is really ‘partnering’ to understand category opportunity and together unlock the right assets to lean in to.

On that, can you talk us through some early deals for the brand?
We have been very keen to make sure some of our first licensing partners are really unique and exciting – showcasing that we want to innovate and think outside the box.

With that in mind, we have a gorgeous range of dog jumpers and matching woollen hats just launched with a fantastic business called WAG & WOOL. Their designer, Charlotte Godfrey created two exclusive artworks – translating iconic Scottish images into original knitted designs.

One is inspired by our Fairytale Pink Castle, and the other paying tribute to the traditional Blackface sheep. If you love Scotland – you’ll love these designs… And if for some reason you aren’t a fan of Scotland, you’ll love them anyway because they are unbelievably cool!

Ha! And did WAG&WOOL fit from a values point of view too?
Absolutely! WAG&WOOL, who are a finalist for a Gift of the year award, craft sustainable dogwear using 100% British wool and working with UK makers. Both WAG&WOOL and the Trust believe in slowing down, protecting what matters, and creating joy in everyday life – whether that’s exploring Glencoe or walking your dog in your local park. It’s the perfect partnership.

Amazing! And congrats on that range being nominated for a Gift of the Year Award. Exciting times! What else should we keep an eye out for?
On Burns Night we launched a fantastic collaboration with Bramwell Brown who create wonderful weather art clocks. The first of a Caledonian Heritage Weather Clock series – this Robert Burns Edition takes five high resolution artworks and stitches them together to create weather scenes that the clock forecasts. These images, relating to the life, era and works of Burns, include scenes of the Burns Monument, the Brig o’Doon and a depiction of Tom o’Shanter. Weather descriptions take phrases from Burns poetry and use his handwriting style as referenced from our archives. It’s a very special creation!

Alongside these launches we have some other very special collaborations just a little further down the line that we can’t wait to share!

Have any other heritage programmes proved inspirational in how you’d like to grow and cultivate this licensing slate?
There are some fabulous programs out there now – and we’ve looked not just at the heritage space, but licensing and other consumer trends more broadly for inspiration.

While we can learn a lot from what others are doing, we want to be different and offer something that is incremental. We often say: “Would that make us stand out at BLE?!”. We’re really proud of our Scottish-ness, and think that is a real point of difference – and we’d love to speak with businesses who are interested in partnering to create authentic, meaningful Scottish-inspired ranges for any audience… And not just for the Scottish market – but to take a credible version of Scotland across the UK and to other international markets, reaching Scotland’s 40 million diaspora and many more fans.

“We don’t want to be a “me too” licensor.”

Looking ahead, what areas do you see as being ripe with potential for NTS?
We have some amazing partners coming down the track who will help us capture what our brand and organisation is all about – including exploring the great outdoors and being inspired by awesome Scottish landscapes.

We also think there is a significant opportunity with more traditional gifting product ranges – and think there is value in celebrating provenance when it comes to food and drink. But we’re also on the lookout for our next wildcard, and are exploring opportunities to showcase the famous Scottish sense of humour!

While tariffs and world politics may currently be creating some uncertainty, we think there is a significant opportunity in the US and are already working with our US Foundation and some of our first partners to explore the US market.

Terrific. Thanks again Caroline.