PR Diary – A month of proud celebrations: Premier League smiles, colourful murals, catwalks on camera and a quarter-century milestone
- PR
May had us bursting with pride. From championing Leeds United’s promotion with a giant smile, to unveiling vibrant artwork to celebrate Pride, and marking Xscape Milton Keynes’ 25th birthday with a celebration for the local community – there’s been plenty of feel-good moments this month. We even squeezed in a live fashion segment on This Morning…
Summer style showcase with This Morning at Westgate Oxford!
Last month, the Umpf team coordinated a filming op with ITV’s This Morning to film their style segment with Lisa Snowdon at Westgate Oxford.
The piece showcased the best of summer style at the centre with Lisa visiting Uniqlo and John Lewis live on air. She also dressed a guest for their summer events with products found in the centre’s stores.
Westgate Oxford was namechecked on screen throughout the four segments, with the centre featured on screen for 14 minutes during the programme.
On top of the four features, which had a reach of over 540,000 a piece, Lisa Snowdon also featured her day at Westgate Oxford on her Facebook and Instagram stories, bringing the total reach to over 2.6 million!
Trinity Leeds Turns Smiley for LUFC
To celebrate Leeds United‘s promotion to the Premier League – and later being crowned Champions – we created a huge display of support at Trinity Leeds ahead of the club’s promotion parade on Bank Holiday Monday.
We emblazoned a 306-square-meter iconic LUFC ‘Smiley’ badge onto the centre’s glass dome roof creating a striking visual that could be seen for ‘Smiles Around’ – offering visitors a chance to capture an iconic selfie moment during the city centre parade.
A ‘wall of support’ was also unveiled on the centre’s link bridge, providing fans the opportunity to leave a message on custom LUFC t-shirt cardboard cutouts. The personal message was then attached to the link bridge by white, blue and yellow ribbons.
The team managed the full campaign – including concept, creative, production, installation and media relations.
The activity was a huge success in generating awareness for the centre, securing generated 44+ pieces of media coverage including BBC Look North, The Sun, Yorkshire Evening Post and Leeds Live, 278k social reach, and hundreds of UGC posts. The activation also saw 2,481 customers leave a personal message onto the link bridge, and boosted footfall by 57.6% on the Bank Holiday Monday alone.
Xscape Milton Keynes Turns 25
To mark Xscape’s 25th anniversary, we launched a campaign that transformed the centre into a community celebration. Kicking things off, a digital stunt featuring giant CGI balloons over Xscape, which was shared by local influencer @rooneyadventures to her followers – see below. The content generated 75,000 views, 4,000 likes and 140 comments – full of birthday wishes and nostalgic memories.
We also partnered with local schools and invited pupils to design a bespoke anniversary logo, which would be used online, across social media and throughout the centre. 7-year-old Hossein Sarkandi’s winning entry featured the iconic Xscape building – standing 44 meters high – with colourful fireworks and balloons. As a reward, Hossein was gifted a fun day out at Xscape.
Other highlights included a themed photo backdrop in the centre and a refreshed ‘Wall of Tall,’ letting visitors measure themselves against celebrities and cultural icons also turning 25.
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The campaign secured 30 pieces of media coverage, with a reach of over 2m – including an interview with Hossein’s mum on BBC Three Counties Radio around the logo competition, where she shared her excitement and gratitude.
Brimming with Pride at Gunwharf Quays
In May, Gunwharf Quays kicked off their Pride celebrations ahead of the official Portsmouth Pride in June. The outlet unveiled five large-scale vibrant murals created by artists from across the region, with each exploring themes of love, acceptance and unity, while reflecting the diversity and inclusivity at the heart of UK Pride.
Alongside issuing a press release which announced the partnership with the five artists creating the murals, Umpf invited media down to see the artwork as it was unveiled, with interview opportunities available with Gunwharf Quays’ Centre Director, Yvonne Clay, and Co-Chair of Portsmouth Pride Trust, CP Robinson.
We secured media attendance from ITV Merdian News who interviewed Yvonne and CP, with the story featured on their evening news. Local title, The News Portsmouth, also attended, taking images and videos of the murals as well as interviewing Yvonne for their website and social channels. Plus, Good Morning Britain shared the news on their regional news bulletin.
So far, we have secured 27 pieces of coverage from this campaign with a reach of over 12.6M, with other key coverage highlights including Muddy Stilettos, Greatest Hits Radio and GScene.
