PR Diary – Cas-Vegas Cactus: the final hurrah, a striking new offering, joining the billionaires club, and hot new food trucks
- PR
March has brought with it the beginning of Spring, and for us, some bloomin’ good results for our clients. Read on to get the latest…
Saying Farewell to the Iconic Cactus Lift at Xscape Yorkshire
We concluded our farewell to the beloved cactus lift at Xscape Yorkshire, which made way for a new state-of-the-art lift designed to enhance accessibility at the leisure venue.
To honour the cactus’ legacy, we preserved two framed pieces and partnered with Wakefield Express to launch a unique competition with a ‘money-can’t-buy’ prize, giving one lucky winner a piece of Xscape history. The response was incredible, with more than 200 entries, making it the newspaper’s most successful competition to date.
A playful plaque was also installed to commemorate the lift’s place in Xscape folklore.
Adding to the tribute, local artist Nicolas Dixon was commissioned to create a striking mural on the new lift shaft, weaving in 19 hidden local landmarks—including a nod to the iconic cactus, generating some great local media coverage.
To wrap up the campaign, we worked with BBC Radio Leeds for a follow-up piece, who interviewed both the competition winner as well as the mural artist on air, ensuring the cactus lift got the send-off it deserved.
What started as a controversial lift replacement became a brilliant moment of nostalgia, creativity, and community engagement—generating great brand awareness for Xscape Yorkshire and cementing its place in local hearts.
A striking new offering at White Rose
White Rose Shopping Centre in Leeds is soon to be home to King Pins, a striking new leisure destination with bowling, shuffleboard, karaoke, and more. We’re supporting on the launch, and developed a piece of larger-than-life 3D art content to announce the brand on White Rose’s social channels:
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Bluewater joins the Billion Club
In March, PR circulation figures for our client Bluewater surpassed 1 billion for first time ever.
The milestone follows a busy year with several new openings and some globalfirsts, including The Elf on the Shelf: Christmas Adventure, the Love Island pop-up store, and Ballerz.
Bluewater Gives Charlton the (Gentle) Boot 🥾⚽
When Charlton Athletic Football Club’s manager, Nathan Jones, told his players that they “can’t now go to Bluewater, walking around high-fiving and going to Costa Coffee when [they] should be resting”, he started team Umpf’s brains ticking.
Within 36 hours of the initial interview, Umpf had story-boarded and produced a reactive video for Bluewater to use on its social channels. In the video, the Bluewater security team ensured the shopping centre was clear of players and definitely not high fiving, shopping, or drinking Costa Coffee.
After a few hours, the video had been viewed over a million times across social media, and we saw reactions rolling in from Charlton players and fans alike.
The stunt had some great PR results too, with 13 clippings and a reach of 11.6 million, as well as a shout out in BBC’s 72+ : The EFL Podcast Football Daily, and PRMoment’s ‘The Good and Bad PR’ article referred to us as ‘retail banter kings’ 👑
The speed at which we responded to the original video was a huge factor in its success, as it was still in the zeitgeist and posted ahead of Charlton’s next fixture.
Hopefully this is the start of a great new relationship between Bluewater and CAFC… #UpTheAddicks ⚽
@bluewater_shopping Nathan Jones, don’t worry we’ve got your back! 🤫😉 @Charlton Athletic FC #bluewatershopping #football #charltonathletic #cafc #nathanjones ♬ original sound – Bluewater
Fresh Flavours Bloom at Trinity Kitchen this Spring
March saw Trinity Kitchen turn up the heat with a new Spring street-food lineup – introducing Jimmy Macks, Yoi, Burratattack, Spuds n Bros, and Dutty Scran Van for the next nine weeks. The buzz around the latest vans was vast, with blanket coverage secured across the local media including Yorkshire Evening Post, Yorkshire Post, Leeds Living, and Leeds Food Guide. We also invited Leeds+ Social, The Hoot, Welcome to Leeds, and Independent Life to visit Trinity Kitchen and taste the new lineup, alongside local foodie influencers.
We could say it was a hit – but we’ll let the posts speak for themselves…
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