Taking the military tattoo to the Chinese

The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo successfully concluded its first venture into China this week.

This was an early step forward for the event since announcing its international growth plans, and a clear demonstration of its bold commitment to reach an audience of 1 billion and double turn-over to £20million by 2025.

Chinese audiences were given the unique opportunity to watch 2018’s iconic Edinburgh show, The Sky’s the Limit, with a series of screenings held around the country. The world-famous show, which has enjoyed 20 consecutive years as a sell-out event, was screened for the first time in Beijing and Shanghai.

Attendees for the premier included the British Embassy and Scottish Office, as well as renowned media outlets including Global Times, China Daily and China Radio.

The colourful show will also be screened over February and March to audiences in Chengdu in Sichuan Province, Guangzhou in Guangdong Province and Wuhan in Hubei Province.

In October 2018, the Tattoo announced Cinema deals to bring the digitised production to Australia, New Zealand and Canada. As part of its international growth strategy, the organisation aims to bring live productions overseas to China, Australia and Canada from 2019 onwards – a step change for the organisation whose annual Edinburgh show is hugely popular but is bound by the physical size of the Edinburgh Castle Esplanade at 8,800 seats per nightly show.

The Edinburgh Military Tattoo took their The Sky’s the Limit show to China

The Tattoo is a key player on the international stage and is committed to engaging with international audiences, particularly Chinese visitors, becoming the first organisation in the Scottish tourism sector to offer WeChat Pay and investing in developing Weibo and WeChat social channels.

Lynsey Fusco, head of marketing and communications at The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, said: ‘Successfully completing our first Tattoo event in China so soon after announcing our growth strategy was incredibly ambitious but also exciting, and it marks another step in our plans for international development.

‘Our audience insight tells us that despite our global visitor numbers growing year on year in Edinburgh, there is still a huge demand for us to bring the Tattoo overseas, allowing people to enjoy the spectacle at home.

‘Innovation is always front of mind when it comes to audience experience, and cinema is a fantastic way to bring The Sky’s the Limit to life. With the impeccable sound quality and visuals, we really gave the Chinese audience a flavour of Edinburgh in August and it was great to hear the feedback from spectators.

‘We had some who had seen live performances before and had been blown away by the quality of the screening to others who had never been and were astounded at the numerous countries involved in the show.’