Umpf Diary – Festival fashion trends hit Glasgow, KSI open new Sidemen store and the Umpf team head to London
- Creative
- Influencer
- PR
- Social Media
It’s been a busy month in the PR and marketing world, and it goes without saying that the hype around the release of box office hit, Barbie, has been dominating headlines – and our team Whatsapp group! The success of the Barbie marketing team got us watching on in awe, and even inspired us to give our Umpf logo the pink treatment over on social media.
For the rest of us, July might have been somewhat drizzly, but we’ve not let that dampen our summer activities! Read the latest on what we’ve been up to this month…
Setting festival fashion trends with Buchanan Galleries
In anticipation for the return of popular music festival TRNSMT in Glasgow this summer, we worked with Buchanan Galleries, to promote themselves as a one-stop shop for festivalgoers this summer, with the aim of driving footfall to the centre.
As part of the activity, we worked with Buchanan Galleries brand ambassador and influencer Thankfifi and key retailers within the centre to style a number of mannequins in trendy festival looks. The mannequins were then showcased to the public, situated in a prominent position in front of the flower wall at Buchanan Galleries ahead of the festival, each providing an insight into where the outfit could be bought from with posters designed by our own Studio team, tying into the centre’s wider Play it Your Way summer campaign.
In the days before the festival began, we issued a press release to announce the activity, which also included insights from ThankFifi into what she believed will be the hottest festival fashion trends in 2023. The activity was also promoted on social media on both Buchanan Galleries’ channels and Thankfifi’s Instagram to engage the centre’s audience.
This low-cost campaign generated a nice visual within the centre in the lead up to TRNSMT Festival, along with some lovely local media coverage and great engagement on ThankFifi’s social channels, with over 8,099 plays on her festival styling Reel.
It’s been a bumper month for Bluewater…
In a string of exciting activity for Bluewater in Kent this summer, we helped launch Hangloose’s fourth exhilarating attraction, Skytrek, an aerial trekking course of 40 tree-topping obstacles set 350-metres high.
For the launch, we invited the local press to the site to road test the course and get a taste of this thrilling new attraction.
In total, the press coverage from this campaign generated a reach of over 9.6 million.
As well as Skytrek, we also supported the launch of the much-anticipated Sidemen store in Bluewater, which saw thousands of fans queuing in the centre from the early hours – some even travelling from America to be a part of the hype.
And some surprise guests even made an appearance…
Just shutdown Bluewater for our new Sidemen Clothing store pic.twitter.com/tcLyNTO0Tf
— ksi (@KSI) July 15, 2023
This second press release issued for Bluewater in July generated a further 38 pieces of coverage bringing the total reach to a huge 56.3 million.
Southside Shopping Centre serves up the sporting vibes
Southside Shopping Centre teamed up with Wandsworth Town BID to bring the community the summer’s biggest sporting events, in a free outdoor pop-up situated on the centre’s Piazza.
Guests were invited to take a seat and relax in a deckchair and enjoy watching Wimbledon, along with the latest sporting action from the Women’s World Cup, F1 and Tour de Yorkshire in the summer sun. Refreshments by Urban Food Fest were also available, bringing a selection of global street food to satisfy any hunger cravings and refuel during the matches.
The team at Umpf supported with the promotion of the event in the media, smashing 24 pieces of coverage, including hits in Evening Standard, The Resident and SW Londoner. We can safely say it was a Grand Slam summer for the centre.
White Rose Stoma on BBC
Our client White Rose Shopping Centre is continuously working to become more accessible for as many visitors as possible. Following guest suggestions, the centre team recently set out to implement shelving, hooks, and mirrors to improve facilities for visitors with stoma bags, providing a safe, clean, and helpful space for bags to be changed.
Using advice from Colostomy UK and feedback from Lyn, a White Rose visitor who has been working hard to improve stoma-friendly facilities across Yorkshire and beyond, the centre now has stoma changing facilities within every area of the mall. Centre Director Steve Foster spoke to Look North about the new facilities and the centre’s commitment to improving accessibility, including introducing weekly Quiet Hours, Changing Places rooms, and sunflower lanyard schemes.
New biz on the block
July has been a busy month on the new business front with the team involved in various pitches and proposals for businesses around the UK. Fingers crossed we can announce some wins next month – watch this space..
Umpf summer social
This month, the Umpf team also travelled back to 1985 for a jaw-dropping afternoon watching Back to the Future on stage. We started the day with food and drinks at Seven Dials Market in London, followed by an afternoon showing of Back to the Future held at the iconic Adelphi theatre – and great Scott was it a good show!
After the show, we headed to Benihana in Covent Garden for a fiery Teppanyaki experience, more food and plenty of tipples, before some of us headed back up North with full bellies and more drinks🥂
View this post on Instagram