Historic Scotland was faced with a downturn in visitor numbers, waning interest in historical buildings and greater competition from other 'days out'. Choosing to focus their marketing strategy on meeting the needs of a modern audience, they created a calendar of events which gave them reasons to communicate and reasons for new people to try out Historic Scotland's properties. This paper shows that by breathing new life into the brand and re-engaging with the Scottish public, Historic Scotland had the highest growth rate in years of lucrative annual memberships. This generated an ROI of £16 for every £1 spent for one of their key events, 'The 2006 Free Weekend Event'