PR Diary – Festive World-Firsts, Pawfect CEOs, and Charity Trails

A bright summer for lighting brand 4lite

It’s been all systems go for our client 4lite. We’ve had a jam-packed summer of influencer partnerships to engage a consumer audience with the brand’s new solar lighting range, which resulted in a huge selection of coverage and a bank of content we can utilise next summer, as well as lots of trade-led content to capture and build trust amongst the brand’s core demographic of sparkies and tradespeople. Since the beginning of the year, we’ve achieved a social media reach of 641K with influencers.

As the turn of the season approached, we piggybacked off the energy price cap hike and issued a press release about how LED bulbs are more energy efficient than incandescent bulbs, and as a result we landed coverage in key publications such as the Express and the Evening Standard.

Then there was Screwfix Live – a key calendar date for any tradie – which the 4lite team attended at the end of September. Our special guest and long-term influencer partner, Kornelia (@Shes_Electricx), played a key role at the 4lite stand, she engaged attendees with talks and demonstrations, captured social media content, and encouraged sign-ups. The event was a great success, with Kornelia going above and beyond in representing the brand, showcasing the strong relationship we’ve built with this influential voice in the industry.

 

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Supporting a little girl’s big journey with Buchanan Galleries

We recently supported Buchanan Galleries’ charity partner Glasgow Children’s Hospital Charity with the first ever Kami Bear’s Teddy Trail to raise awareness and sign-ups for its sponsored walk.

Partakers were invited to lace up their walking shoes, bring along their favourite stuffed teddy bear, and join in on a day filled with fun teddies and community spirit – all whilst raising money for Scotland’s busiest children’s hospital.  The walk was led by the charity’s mascot Kami Bear, as well as by Millie who received support from the charity after being delivered at just 26 weeks via emergency C-Section.

News of the sponsored walk was widespread and received 21 pieces of regional coverage including Scottish Daily Express, Glasgow Evening Times, and Daily Record with a reach of 18.M. We also arranged an interview op with Millie’s mum, Steph, at This is Go radio, which was repeated during every news bulletin during the show’s breakfast segment.

Putting shopping centres on the map

This summer, we launched an enhanced influencer programme with our long-term client, Landsec, which owns some of the UK’s most iconic shopping centres and outlets. The programme aims to raise the profile of each shopping and leisure destination, whilst entertaining audiences and connecting with some of the biggest internet personalities in the UK.

We seamlessly manage the end-to-end influencer marketing process, from talent identification to reporting. This involves defining campaign objectives and audiences, crafting narratives and outputs, researching and vetting influencers, negotiating partnerships, drafting contracts and content briefs, overseeing approvals, and conducting thorough reporting and analysis.

So far we’ve partnered with some huge names, such as Summer Fox whose TikTok about her visit to Bluewater with her wannabe ‘geezer’ boyfriend has hit over 624K views, and Ethan Aveiro and Natalie Taylor for Braintree Village whose content has garnered a combined 345K views across Instagram and TikTok.

@summerfox___ you havent had the real british experience until you’ve spent the day at @Bluewater Ad #shoppingvlog #dateideas #bluewater ♬ original sound – Summer Fox

Pawesome Pooches in Somerset

In September we set tails wagging at Clarks Village, the dog-friendly shopping outlet in Somerset, when we launched a search for a new CEO – a Canine Executive Officer that is.

The weekend-long Pawsome Pooch event celebrated all things dog, offering guests free pet pawtrait photo shoots as well as complimentary pet pampering, dog trick demos, agility sessions, and displays from the Guide Dogs.

Every pup who had a photo shoot was treated to a free digital picture and entered into the ‘CEO’ competition. A shortlist was chosen by Clarks Village’s top dog judges and put forward for a public vote on the outlet’s social media channels.

The gorgeous Dudley, a three-legged Hungarian Vizsla, stormed into the lead and is now set to be crowned Clarks Village’s Canine Executive Officer.

The pawsome event resulted in:

• 175 dogs entering the competition.
• 33 pieces of coverage, reaching 20.3 million – and more to come!
• A social reach of 713,000.
• A positive impact on both footfall and sales at Clarks Village.

 

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Creative highlights

September marked the return of students across the UK and our Studio team have been working closely with the Landsec marketing team to develop a fresh look for its student campaign. The new style has been rolled out at freshers’ fairs, across digital and print assets, and we’ve also created fun in-centre activations like spin-to-win wheels and giveaways.

And yes, it’s never too early for a festive brief here at Umpf! The Studio team have been busy kicking off a range of festive campaigns including creative for the world’s first Elf On The Shelf experience at Bluewater, with everything from static digital assets to animated content to promote the event. We’ve also developed a new look for the Landsec Ice Rinks, which will be used across Bluewater, White Rose, Clarks Village, and Braintree Village from October.

There’s plenty more coming up in next month’s update, so stay tuned!