A Day in the Life: Behind the Scenes of Our Summer of Discovery Campaign

This summer, we invited you to discover the Isle of Arran through fragrance.

Inspired by our island’s rugged coastlines, colourful gardens and ever-changing landscapes, our Summer of Discovery campaign celebrates the moments, memories and places that make Arran so special. Every fragrance tells its own story, thoughtfully crafted on the Isle of Arran using the island’s own mineral-rich freshwater, bringing a little piece of the island into your everyday.

But before the campaign reached your screen, there were months of planning behind just two days on location, capturing the beauty of Arran and the products inspired by it. From early morning preparations to filming at a breathtaking island location, our team worked alongside talented creatives and local businesses to bring the campaign to life.

Join me behind the scenes for a day in the life as Marketing Executive at ARRAN Sense of Scotland.

Arriving on Arran

As our team is based on the mainland, we travelled to Arran the day before filming to settle in and prepare for the shoot. This year’s location was the beautiful The Shore House in Lamlash, alongside Arran Shores. With panoramic sea views and thoughtfully designed interiors, it couldn’t have been a more fitting backdrop for our Summer of Discovery campaign.

If you haven’t already discovered their properties, I’d highly recommend taking a look. Better still, guests can enjoy their stay with our ARRAN Bath & Body products waiting for them.

The afternoon was spent unpacking equipment, styling products and capturing some of our key summer fragrances, alongside a few exciting new additions that you’ll have to keep an eye out for.

Bringing the Campaign to Life

Long before the cameras arrive, every ARRAN campaign starts with careful planning.

Our Marketing Manager, Kim, spends countless hours creating the shoot brief, planning every image we need, from hero campaign photography to website banners and social content. Every product, location and orientation is mapped out in advance, meaning each setup has a purpose.

Working alongside our photographers, Gail and David, is always a collaborative process. While the shoot list keeps us on track, there’s always room for creativity, with ideas evolving throughout the day to capture the island in the most authentic way possible.

After wrapping our first evening around 8pm, we swapped cameras for conversation and headed to Lamlash Bay Hotel for well-earned pizzas before returning to The Shore House for an early night.

Capturing the Island

An early start the following morning meant coffee, croissants and breakfast on the go before our 8am call time.

While hair and makeup got underway for our model and the photography team prepared the first setups, Hailey, our Ecommerce Executive, and I turned our attention to another important part of the campaign: creating LoFi content for our social channels.

If you’ve ever spotted beautifully manicured nails and filmed on a phone, it'll likely be the work of Hailey and I!

We captured candid behind-the-scenes moments, product demonstrations and lifestyle clips on our phones. After the shoot, these videos are edited into the content you see across our social media, giving you an even closer look behind the scenes.

Island Favourites

No day on Arran is complete without enjoying some of the fantastic local food on offer.

We paused for a well-earned lunch from The Old Pier Café, enjoying delicious homemade food (the sausage rolls definitely deserve a special mention!) while soaking up some unexpected April sunshine.

One of the best parts of filming on Arran is the opportunity to work with and support fellow island businesses. From our stunning accommodation at The Shore House to dinner at Lamlash Bay Hotel and lunch from The Old Pier Café, every stop throughout the shoot reflected the warmth and hospitality that makes the island so special.

Wrapping Up

With blue skies, calm seas and sunshine throughout the afternoon, we couldn’t have wished for better conditions. Filming by the shoreline with the sound of the waves in the background perfectly captured everything Summer of Discovery is about.

By 5pm, the cameras stopped rolling and it was time to carefully pack away products, props and equipment before making our way back to the ferry.

Of course, our work doesn’t stop there. Once we’re back in the office, the next stage begins - reviewing hundreds of photographs, selecting our favourite images, editing LoFi video content, preparing assets for our website and planning the campaign across email, social media and digital channels.

While leaving Arran is always bittersweet, every campaign reminds me just how lucky we are to create products inspired by such an incredible place.  Every time I reach for one of our fragrances, I’m transported right back to those two days spent capturing the island we call home.