The development of 'viral marketing' is having a profound impact on the creative industries of the Highlands and Islands according to a record label manager visiting the area next week.

Phil Ellis is coming to Inverness to take part in the three day GoHI event which runs from Thursday September 7 until Saturday 9. He will be one of the panel on the Developing Creative Ideas and Guerrilla Marketing event on September 8 at the Royal Highland Hotel, giving advice to those wanting to develop markets for their music, art, film or TV ideas.

Phil, who worked with the management company of the hit 80s band Simply Red, currently operates five record labels for City College Manchester which have collectively sold over 300,000 records. He recently signed the Lewis-based band Our Small Capital to a deal following their appearance at last year's 'GoHi'. They have since performed in Manchester, Moscow, Texas and the Basque Country.

Phil explains, "Commercialising creativity is all about entrepreneurship now. You don't need a demo tape and you don't need an agent to get your music heard. It no longer matters if you live in London or Barra. You essentially need to build a site on community websites such as MySpace.com and you can supply your work to a targeted audience among the 58million people who access it.

"Arctic Monkeys must be the archetypal example of this type of self promotion. They came from nowhere to selling 370,000 copies of their album and to being ones of the biggest new-comer bands ever in the UK - success based on their own marketing endeavours."

Phil continued: "It is particularly relevant to the disparate geography of the Highland and Islands. There is no need for bands or artists to be at a disadvantage through difficult access or having to work in isolation. There is a now an on-line world market out there and people have a tool which they are familiar with - a computer and mouse - to bring their products to that market."

Phil, who is currently working on a £1m contract for the Job Centre + delivering a new phase of a New Deal scheme for musicians, is coming to Inverness at the invitation of AIMhi and Highland and Islands Enterprise manager Iain Hamilton who is organising the GoHI event in conjunction with GoEvents.

Iain said: "We are privileged to have Phil, and others working at the very top of their profession in the creative industries, coming to this event. They are experts who are attuned to both the potential talent in the Highlands and Islands and the challenges we face. They'll be bringing some radical and excellent advice so I'm hopeful that everyone with an interest in creativity will take the opportunity come along and meet them." 

The timetable for GoHI is:

• September 7, Making the Web Work for You with Channel 4 Ideasfactory 19.30-21.30.
• September 8, Developing Creative Ideas and Guerrilla Marketing(AIMhi) 15.00-17.30.
• September 9, Hi Fashion 10.00-15.00; Creative Women's Network 15.30-17.30; Inside the Music Business 13.30-15.30.

All at the Royal Highland Hotel, in Academy Street, Inverness. (The final three events have crèche facilities available, pre-booking required).

There will be live music showcases on September 8 and 9 from 20.00 till late at Hootenanny, Mad Hatters, The Room, The Foundry and Market Bar.

For more information email HIE staff Iain Hamilton or Gillian MacDonald at Iain.hamilton@hient.co.uk or Gillian.macdonald@hient.co.uk or visit the GoEvents web page