VisitScotland launched its largest-ever global marketing campaign, working alongside Disney-Pixar and their epic action adventure film "Brave" to reach millions of potential visitors across the world. The campaign will showcase every corner of Scotland through a new TV and cinema advertisement, a new website and extensive marketing and events activity in countries ranging from the U.S. and U.K. to France and Germany. The TV and cinema campaign will reach around 80 million people in the U.K. and abroad and is expected to boost the Scottish economy by around 140 million pounds Sterling ($220 million). The campaign will see the airing of VisitScotland's first TV advertisement in North America for 10 years, thanks to a major funding boost by the Scottish government.

The timing of the campaign is crucial, with this market showing encouraging signs of recovery. The number of American visitors increased by 15 percent last year and it is Scotland's biggest overseas market, with more than 400,000 visitors spending 311 million pounds Sterling ($489 million) every year.

The new 30-second advertisement, which is voiced by Neil Oliver, will be broadcast on some of the world's largest networks and in cinemas before the film, taking creative inspiration from the theme "Scotland. Where legends come to life." The advertisement will be translated into four languages -- French, Spanish, German and Italian -- and will showcase the drama and spirit of Scotland through its landscapes and natural environment.

VisitScotland and Disney have worked together on the advertisement to showcase the country that inspired the filmmakers with images from the film interwoven with real life scenes from Scotland. World-famous Scottish landmarks such as the Ring of Brodgar in Orkney, Castle Kilchurn on Loch Awe and Eilean Donan Castle feature in the advertisement. Carradale-born piper Lorne MacDougall plays on the advertisement, as he does on the soundtrack of the film.

Other marketing activity will feature every part of Scotland based on six key themes, including ancient Scotland, myths and legends, castles, landscapes and forests, clans and culture, and wildlife and nature. VisitScotland is working with more than 20 partners across Scotland, from Historic Scotland to Scottish Archery, to further promote the country.

As part of the new campaign, there will also be a worldwide contest to win a luxurious four-day trip to Scotland, which will encourage viewers to visit the new VisitScotland’s new “Brave” website. The Library of Scotland website is designed to inspire, inform and convert web visitors into visitors to Scotland. This will be complemented by activity on Facebook and Twitter.

The launch of the campaign coincides with the world premiere of the film, which took place on June 18 at the Dolby Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard, where Scotland natives Kelly Macdonald, Kevin McKidd and Craig Ferguson walked the Highlands green carpet. VisitScotland's marketing team has played an integral role in ensuring that the magic of the real Scotland was captured.

“Tourism is worth 11 billion pounds Sterling ($17.3 billion) to Scotland, employs 270,000 people and is one of the industries bucking the economic downturn -- with visitor figures increasing by 9 percent last year,” said First Minister Alex Salmond. “The fact that we are seeing growth in visitor numbers from America means that this couldn't be a better time to promote Scotland in conjunction with the largest entertainment company in the world. Not only will this have a significant short-term impact, there is a legacy for the future with families being inspired to come to Scotland for years to come.”