First Minister Alex Salmond and Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon at the launch of A National Conversation, 2007 (Photo via)The Scottish independence referendum is six weeks away. In Edinburgh, soggy political flyers mingle with discarded Fringe ads for one-man War Horse musicals; YES posters occupy windows; and taxis drive around sporting Better Together banners. Tuesday nightâs debate â which Alistair Darling won, with 56 percent of the vote in a snap ICM exit poll â was widely watched by those fortunate enough to get the online STV player to load, and one of Scotlandâs largest pro-independence groups is now trying to distance the vote from Alex Salmond.Thereâs the exact mix of anticipation, nerves and tension youâd expect from a country on the verge of making one very big decision, and you can already feel both sides of the campaign stepping up their efforts ahead of the September vote. But one thing nobody seems to have taken into consideration is those standing to lose a hefty bit of their income stream once the whole discussion is over. Where will printing businesses turn? Who will keep patriotic memorabilia companies afloat once people stop bulk-buying sporrans?All that got me thinking about who exactly is making money from the referendum, so I thought Iâd look into it and distinguish those working purely for love â or political leanings, at least â from those who are all about the cold hard cash.A Ladbrokes in the Scottish town of Renfrew (Photo via)THE BOOKIESPeople normally have no option but to bet on silly stuff. Theyâll throw money at a game of chance, speculate what a very rich baby might be called or coast on the pure exhilaration that comes with potentially losing a weekâs earnings on a man riding a horse. So itâs no surprise that when something vaguely serious comes along â like 5.2 million people leaving a country, for example â those same gamblers would hurl all their chips onto the table.âAt first we thought [the referendum] was fairly niche,â said Alex Donohue from Ladbrokes. âHowever, now itâs clear that the interest is wider, crossing over from the political puritans to the man in the street. In Scotland, itâs quite literally the biggest story in town, and a lot of people will be placing bets.âWilliam Hill has seen a similar surge in interest, with their Media Relations Director Graham Sharpe confirming that they expect to turn over âin excess of ÂŁ1 million in total â far more than originally anticipatedâ.âWeâve had some quite obscure bets,â said Alex, âincluding people betting on Scotland voting Yes and David Cameron resigning within 24 hours. Thatâs 50/1, so not totally outside the realms of possibility. Also, 50/1 is the prospect of a No landslide [a vote of 75 percent] or a Yes landslide [a vote of 65 percent].âAlex quoted the highest bet as ÂŁ200,000 on a No vote, placed in Edinburgh at odds of 5/1, followed by ÂŁ50,000 and ÂŁ18,000 on No in London. The largest Yes votes were both ÂŁ10,000 â one in London and one in the Scottish Borders. William Hill exceeded this, with Graham telling me the biggest bet theyâve received so far is ÂŁ400,000 on a No vote.We obviously canât tell how large the profit for bookies will be until all the votes are in. But with politicalbetting.com â who presumably know what theyâre talking about â citing the referendum as âthe biggest non-general election UK political better event everâ, itâs safe to assume A Lot.For love or money? All about the money.THE POLLING COMPANIESThis was also a tricky one to work out, profit-wise. First up, I spoke to Mark Diffley at the market research company Ipsos MORI, who began our interview by declaring he âcertainly wonât tell [me] anything about profitsâ. Ironic, for an agency whose day-to-day is calling people up with prying questions, but understandable. He went on to tell me that the referendum is âcertainly something people are engaged with; people want to talk about it, theyâre willing to talk about itâ.Next I spoke to Ben Tobin at Yougov, an organisation that, according to their 2013 annual report, made an operating profit of ÂŁ6 million, with a turnover of ÂŁ62.6 million. The topics of their polls vary, so although independence is a key issue at the moment, itâs not the only one. âWeâve done work in England and Wales to find out what they think of independence,â said Ben. âHowever, we try to cover everything. Weâve done a lot of work on Gaza recently.âFor love or money? For money, but seeking to serve the public interest.Some unwanted Yes promotional material (Photo via)PR AGENCIESBoth campaigns have received huge donations, whether theyâre from super wealthy childrenâs authors, lottery winners or just your average, run-of-the-mill plebs â though the No campaign has reportedly taken more than double the amount donated to Yes. A decent chunk of this money goes straight into PR, because, really, what else can they get away with spending all that money on?While the Yes campaign does all their PR in house â âtaking the underdog approachâ, according to PR Week â Better Together have employed the help of M&C Saatchi, seemingly in the hope they can replicate the success of their 1980s âLabour Isnât Workingâ crusade and crush Salmond into the mud. Sadly, no one at M&C Saatchi was available to speak to me, so I couldnât ask them how much they were being paid. But considering theyâre one of the largest advertising agencies in the world, Iâm going to go ahead and assume again: A Lot.For love or money? Possibly a bit of both; some in the Yes camp may be working partly for love.THE PRINTERSPrinting companies in Edinburgh, usually kept plenty busy with the Fringe, are working double time this year, with both campaigns needed flyers, leaflets and posters that lots of people will ignore. I could only convince one Edinburgh printer to speak to me, and he did so on condition of anonymity, saying, âWeâve had a fair amount of referendum stuff, mainly flyers. I donât know quite how much, although itâs mainly Yes. The stuff for No has been admin stuff rather than publicity materials.âI asked him if perhaps No just arenât bothering to publicise themselves as much. âI donât know about that â Iâve seen some No posters about,â he said. âNowhere near the same number as the Yes ones, but they are about. They do exist.âAs a printer, he told me he sometimes feels uncomfortable about the materials heâs been asked to produce. âBoth sides make some claims that could be said to be factually dubious at best, and I always feel a bit apprehensive about printing things like that,â he said. But that clearly doesnât stop him.So how much is he making on these factually dubious print-outs? âI canât tell you about profits,â he said. âBut we charge ÂŁ60 for 1,000 double-sided flyers, and weâre making a lot of flyers.âFor love or money? ÂŁÂŁÂŁÂŁÂŁA Proud Clothing T-shirtTHE PRODUCERS OF PATRIOTIC MERCHANDISELesley Matthews runs Proud Clothing â whose tagline is: âScottish and Loving itâ â a company that, shockingly, sells clothing that celebrates the âhistory, culture and heritage of Scotlandâ.âInitially we didnât start out with the referendum in mind,â said Lesley, who creates the designs herself. âThere was such a lack in decent Scottish T-shirts, and it wasnât until it got up and running that I realised it could be used as a tool to promote independence.âI asked whether the T-shirts were still a money-making operation, or whether they had veered into propaganda territory. âWell, theyâre a way of starting up a conversation in the pub,â Lesley replied. âSales have been up this year, with our Rebellious Scot T-shirt being our bestseller by far. But itâs far more an idealistic thing than a profit-making thing. You know, itâs never going to pay the mortgage.âLesley puts her money where her claims are, donating a portion of the companyâs profits to the Yes campaign. âWe put in private donations from the companyâs bank account, but weâre not officially affiliated with the Yes programme,â she told me. âReally, it would be great to make a profit, but weâre just ordinary people trying to do our bit to make a difference and encourage people to vote Yes.âFor love or money? For love, almost all the way.Vlad and KierCOMEDIANSVladimir McTavish (real name Paul) and Kier McAllister have put on a referendum show at the Fringe every year since 2012, and previously theyâd never made a profit. This year, however, their show âAye Right? How No? The Comedy Countdown to the Referendumâ is selling out.âIn 2012 we sold pretty well, but we were the only show dealing with it,â said Paul. â2013 was similar. We were wondering whether to come this year â have we actually got a third year in us to do this?â It turns out they did, and the show has been a huge success.Both are staunchly pro-independence and use the showâs satirical take on the referendum to get their point across. âI think you can tell the maturity of any [debate] by the quality of its satire,â said Paul. âThe fact that people now think the referendum is worth creating satire about shows how seriously people are taking it.âAre they expecting to make a profit this year? âWe might â weâve been selling pretty well, but most Fringe shows donât even cover their overheads,â said Paul. âWeâre lucky weâre at Assembly, as they will cover our losses. Most venues donât do that. But if we can make a difference to the outcome and make people think, then thatâs whatâs important.âFor love or money? Very much for the love.@HopeWhitmoreMore on the Scottish referendum:Why Independence Will Be Hell for ScotlandWhy Independence Will Be Heaven for ScotlandMeet the Pro-Independence Scots Who Want to Turn Their Country into a Socialist Utopia
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement