Lost Shore Surf Resort Launch
Making waves with strategic communications solutions
The Brief
Perceptive Communicators led the high-impact launch campaign for Lost Shore Surf Resort, a world-first transformation of a disused Edinburgh quarry into Europe’s largest inland surfing destination. This pioneering facility redefined Scotland’s adventure tourism offer, blending elite sport, economic regeneration, and social value.
Our brief was to generate widespread excitement around the resort’s opening, establish it as a world-class destination, and drive sales. Perceptive was tasked with securing at least 150 pieces of media coverage, including international and broadcast features, while also generating a significant percentage of total launch revenue via earned media.
Our Approach
We developed a bold, layered campaign, “Making Waves in UK Tourism,” to position Lost Shore as Scotland’s most exciting new adventure experience.
The campaign launched with pre-announcement features covering key milestones - recruitment, accommodation, and dining offers - before building to a high-impact media day. This event combined live surf demos, athlete interviews, and charity partnerships, creating a powerful narrative about experience, community, and cutting-edge tech.
We worked closely with broadcast, travel, sport and lifestyle media to deliver rich, first-person stories, supported by drone visuals, elite surfer interviews, and behind-the-scenes content. Key spokespeople were briefed and trained to deliver consistent messages across all press opportunities.
We also collaborated with charity, The Wave Project to spotlight surf therapy and worked with Red Bull surfer, Ben Larg, Visit Scotland and Scottish Surfing to build credibility and reach new audiences.
The Results from the November 2024 launch
Results
293 earned media features across national, regional, and international outlets, including BBC Breakfast, Jeremy Vine on Ch5, STV, The Sunday Times, Sports Illustrated and The Guardian.
35+ media outlets attended the launch event.
Over 90% key message penetration across all coverage.
10+ broadcast features
30+ international features, driving strong visitor interest from Spain, France, and Ireland.
Outcomes & Impact
Sales & Digital Impact:
50% of all online sales came directly from earned media, helping Lost Shore exceed revenue targets by 60%
13,000 launch day website visitors, with 70% citing media coverage as their referral source.
Over 220,000 web visitors in the first two months.
7,000+ surfers visited within two months
Broader Economic & Social Impact:
Firmly established LSSR as Scotland’s premier adventure tourism destination.
Reinforced its role in creating 130 new jobs and generating an £20 annual economic boost.
Strengthened public understanding of surf therapy, solidifying LSSR’s social value.
The campaign’s exceptional results led to industry recognition, with Perceptive winning Consumer PR Campaign of the Year at the PRMoment Awards 2025.
Client Feedback
“The Perceptive Communicators team has been invaluable on what has been arguably one of the most complex projects to put together in the history of Scottish development. Their expert management of all the communication strands from stakeholders to sales messaging, from people to promotion, have been exemplary, and we couldn’t have executed the project so smoothly without them. Creative, talented, highly effective and results driven, Perceptive Communicators are at the top of their game and a critical extension of our team.”
Andy Hadden, Founder of Lost Shore Surf Resort
