PR Diary – The World’s Biggest Santa Skate, New Openings and A Royal Visit

Headlines Fit For A Princess

Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal recently paid a visit to luxury British Bedmaker Harrison Spinks on a tour of its farm and factory, presenting the company with a prestigious King’s Award for Sustainable Development.

In preparation for the high-profile visit, we liaised with the Royal press office team, drafted a press release and issued to key media under embargo ahead of the event. We also coordinated the event’s photography as well as media attendance from key regional titles BBC Look North and ITV Calendar, ensuring all relevant members of staff were briefed and interview-ready ahead of the big day.

We achieved some incredible results, totalling 47 pieces of coverage across print, online, TV, radio and social, with highlights including national coverage in The Times, Daily Express, and Hello! Magazine. We also secured further coverage in leading regional publications Yorkshire Evening Post and the Yorkshire Post, with strong features across trade and business titles.   

From Lockdown Dream to Retail Reality

This November, we supported the launch of Restock3d, a Glasgow-founded independent ‘hard-to-find’ sports and activewear brand, at Buchanan Galleries.

With a great story to be told – starting the business when he was just 16 years old in his bedroom during lockdown, to becoming a social media sensation with over 300K followers, and finally achieving his dream of opening his first brick-and-mortar store at Buchanan Galleries, all within 4 years – we helped spread the word and his story within the local media, achieving widespread coverage, both online and in print including Glasgow Times and Glasgow Live.

The coverage, reaching over 17m people, celebrated not only the launch at Buchanan Galleries but also the inspiring journey of a young entrepreneur turning his vision into reality.

Kicking off with Pompey FC ⚽

Gunwharf Quays became home to Portsmouth FC’s pop-up official club store earlier last month. The store showcased a full range of club merchandise, including official Portsmouth FC products, as well as replica kits, training wear and exclusive gifts.
The Umpf team managed the media engagement and scored attendance from the most prominent local news site on launch day. They captured images of the guests who had queued up to be first in the store and meet their favourite players. In total, our outreach secured 11 pieces of coverage with a reach of over 14.7million.

Help For You & Baby

Over the last couple of months, we’ve partnered with Bradford District & Craven Health and Care Partnership to provide families in the area with clear, accessible guidance throughout pregnancy and up to their child’s first two years. To achieve this, we developed a campaign look and feel for the infant health initiative which spanned print and digital including multilingual explainer animation video on their website to highlight the range of services, appointments and immunisations available to new and expecting mothers.

We also designed and distributed pocket-sized z-card leaflets, ensuring vital information reached families directly, as well as creating engaging digital content and a paid social media campaign, which achieved impressive results with over 75K views, 630K impressions and 3,000 direct link clicks to the website.

But our work doesn’t stop here – we’re currently running a Spotify campaign and will be launching a radio campaign in the coming weeks, too.

Another busy month at Bluewater…

In November Bluewater welcomed a host of iconic international brands including Bershka, Pull & Bear, and Sephora to name a few. The Umpf team were busy liaising with the media to support these launches, and drafting several press releases.

To date, the Bershka and Pull&Bear announcement has accumulated 30 pieces of coverage with a reach of 78.3 million. The Sephora launch has seen 51 pieces of coverage secured with a reach of over 94m –  and the third release has just been distributed so we’re anticipating more to come through!

What’s more, Bluewater has made history with the launch of its long-anticipated and world-exclusive experience, The Elf on the Shelf® Christmas Adventure. We managed all PR and influencer marketing for the immersive experience, landing national coverage in The Sun, and a total of 79 clippings – as well as executing a media launch evening, offering select media and influencers the chance to be the the first people in the world to experience the festive event.

Fresh from the Studio – A Roundup of Recent Work

Over the past couple of months, we’ve been busy working on a range of creative projects – from festive to health campaigns, our work has spanned digital, print and animated content.

This year’s Landsec Christmas Appeals, Markets, and Grottos featured cohesive and bespoke designs that aligned with the overall festive branding we’ve developed – including AI-generated hero visuals! We also rolled out more Busk Stops, collaborating with our production partner to deliver these at both Xscape Yorkshire and Lewisham. Our 25th-anniversary creative for Braintree Village showcased bold 90s-inspired gradients, while the rollout of a new Landsec Ice Rink creative direction brought vibrant visuals to White Rose, Bluewater, Clarks Village and Braintree Village across both digital and print assets.

It’s not just festive work we’ve delivered; updates to London Recycles’ Repair Week website have opened up the potential to share repair initiatives and news through a new blog area. That’s just a taste of the bold, creative work we’ve been producing lately. Hit play on the video below for a quick rundown!

Arts, Aromatics and Arrows: Christmas came early with the Umpf Christmas do 🎄🍸

The Umpf and Yasper team painted the town multicoloured at our work’s Christmas do. We kicked off the festivities with our annual Secret Santa and mimosas in the office before venturing out into the city. The first stop was to Pinot and Picasso where we channelled our creativity painting a Northern Lights landscape – complete with some out-of-this-world touches for some! 🛸

Afterwards, we enjoyed a delicious Chinese feast at Mans Market, before embracing our competitive streak with a lively game of darts at Black Cat Leeds. Fuelled by all the festivities – and plenty of drinks – the night ended with the purchase of a professional dartboard, ensuring the competition continues back at the office!

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Umpf (@instaumpf)