Edinburgh legal AI startup Wordsmith has launched a tongue-in-cheek advertising campaign in Boston, complete with billboards, newspaper adverts and hundreds of bottles of Scotch whisky, as Scotland supporters leave the city following the World Cup.
The campaign comes after an estimated 50,000 members of the Tartan Army spent almost two weeks in Boston, with bars across the city reportedly running out of beer as Scotland made its first World Cup appearance in 28 years.
The send-off comes after Steve Clarke’s side suffered a 3-0 defeat to Brazil in Miami on Wednesday night, leaving Scotland to anxiously await the outcome of the remaining group-stage fixtures to discover whether they will qualify for the knockout rounds as one of the tournament’s best third-placed teams.
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The Sam Adams Taproom in downtown Boston said supporters had “drunk them dry”, selling four times as much as it usually would during a long holiday weekend, while bars across the city required emergency deliveries to replenish supplies, particularly of Scottish favourite Tennent’s.
As Scotland fans head south to Miami for their next matches, Wordsmith has unveiled a billboard carrying the message: “Boston, your bars fought bravely.”
A longer version appears in a full-page advert in The Boston Globe, where the company apologises for Scottish supporters allegedly “drinking the bars dry” and invites residents to record a 10-second farewell message for departing fans.
The best 367 video clips will be shown during this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
The number references 367 AD, when the ancestral tribes of Scotland launched a surprise invasion of Roman Britain known as the Great Conspiracy, with Wordsmith saying it is marking the anniversary “more peacefully”.
Alongside the campaign, the legal AI startup is sending 367 bottles of bespoke, custom-labelled Scotch whisky to in-house lawyers across Boston, describing the gifts as a form of “humanitarian aid” for corporate legal departments.
Wordsmith develops AI tools for corporate legal departments and says the campaign is aimed at teams increasingly looking to handle more legal work internally rather than relying on outside counsel.
The company recently raised a $70m Series B funding round and now has more than 500 customers using its platform.
Ross McNairn, chief executive and co-founder of Wordsmith, said: “Boston opened its doors, put up with the bagpipes, ran out of beer, and treated us like family. That takes a truly special kind of host, and we’re grateful for every minute of it.”
He added: “The farewell films are our thank-you for the welcome, and the whisky is our apology for the bars. Good health – or Slàinte, as we say in Scotland.”
