Changes for McEwan's & Younger's

The Scotsman reports on the sale of McEwan's and Younger's to the Bedfordshire-based brewing company Wells and Young's.

You can read about the acquisition on the Wells and Young's website as well, where their Managing Director Nigel McNally says:

“This is a significant and major acquisition, and secures the future for the much loved McEwan’s and Younger’s brands. We are hugely excited about these fantastic Scottish ales joining our stable, they bring a wealth of opportunities to our business which we will realise through brand investment, innovation and exploiting export potential. We are committed to maintaining the rich Scottish heritage of the brands. We will continue brewing McEwan’s draught ales at the historic Caledonian Brewery and we will set up a small Scottish office to support the brands and our range of beers.”

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Business Archives in the FT

Another great article from the Financial Times about menswear fashion brands who are using their heritage and archives to inform their collections and brand identity.  It includes examples from Burberry, Wolsley, Belstaff and Denham.  Belstaff's chief executive Harry Slatkin is quoted as saying that:

Belstaff is an iconic English brand. When you find a brand that has such a rich history, you pay homage to it and you don’t change it. The challenge is adding modernity and making it current to today’s modern world.

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RBS Archives on twitter

The Royal Bank of Scotland Archives are on twitter as @RBS_Archives and last week they launched a new twitter account for @Johnofthebank to allow them to tweet the 18th century diary of John Campbell, the cashier in charge of RBS during the Jacobite uprising in 1745.

From their press release: His diary records how he paid the rebels in gold from reserves held in Edinburgh Castle and the first tweet will be his diary entry from 14 September 1745, the day he took the bank's valuables to the Castle in anticipation of the Jacobites' arrival in the city. Ruth Reed, Archives Manager at RBS said:

"The diary was ideal for Twitter as it was written in small, daily sections, often with several different entries throughout the day. We're excited about using a new technology to tell a very old story, and hope it will bring this fascinating part of history to a whole new audience."

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Donate a memory

The Museum of Brands in London is holding a donate a memory day on monday 26th September from 10 am to 4.30 pm.

This is a free event for senior citizens only to celebrate their childhood memories and pass them on to the next generation. A team of volunteers will be on hand to gather visitors' memories in a digital memory bank.

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Archives Matter

The Scottish Council on Archives recently launched their Archives Matter brochure.

According to their website this publication seeks to achieve these objectives:

• to serve as an introduction to the world of archives 
• to act as a source of information that will encourage exploration and enquiry 
• to be a persuasive advocacy document highlighting the importance of the archives and records management sector. The publication is both informative and visually attractive, filled with thought- provoking commentary and stunning images.

The brochure includes examples of business archives and why they matter.  It discusses company heritage with Lloyds Banking Group, technical records with the Ballast Trust and using archives for marketing with Diageo.

Its a great brochure, full of lovely pictures, quotes and examples and is full of inspiration about how to use archives and make them work for you.

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