Umpf Retail PR
At Umpf, we’ve been delivering integrated campaigns on behalf of retail and high street brands for more than a decade, so we know what makes an idea drive impact on the shop floor. From meticulously planning centre-wide stunts to building integrated influencer programmes, we create standout strategies that put retail brands firmly in the media spotlight.
Our retail PR services span everything from news generation, influencer marketing, and events, to social media, creative content, design, and day-to-day press office management. Whether you’re launching a new store, driving footfall for a shopping centre, or raising awareness of a retail campaign, we’ll deliver the right mix of creativity and commercial thinking to boost brand visibility and sales.
Read on for:
- Umpf’s Retail & High Street PR Experience
- Examples of Umpf’s Retail Press Office Experience
- 6 Umpf Retail PR Campaign Case Studies
- Our Umpf Retail PR Awards
Umpf’s Retail & High Street Experience
From boutique independents to some of the UK’s biggest shopping destinations, Umpf has a wealth of experience in the retail sector.
Retail PR is about building awareness, trust, and excitement around stores, centres, products, and campaigns. It means inspiring audiences through stories, securing influential media coverage, and ensuring your brand stands out in a competitive high street and digital marketplace.
From traditional press office activity and thought leadership, to stunts, experiential activations, and influencer partnerships, we help brands connect with their audiences – whether that’s shoppers, tenants, stakeholders, or the wider community.
Done well, retail PR doesn’t just generate headlines – it drives footfall, grows sales, and creates long-term brand loyalty.
We’ve spent more than a decade honing our media know-how and building relationships in the retail and lifestyle sector. Our PR campaigns generate awareness, deliver coverage, and keep brands front of mind with target audiences.
Our clients are some of the biggest retail operators across the UK: Bluewater, Braintree Village, Brighton Marina, Buchanan Galleries, Clarks Village, Gunwharf Quays, Lewisham Shopping Centre, O2 Centre, Southside, St David’s Cardiff, Trinity Leeds, Westgate Oxford, Westwood Cross, and White Rose.
We have also worked on new openings, upsizes, promotions, collabs and projects with a whole host of retailers including: Abercrombie & Fitch, Aesop, Belstaff, Bershka, Cadbury, Castore, Charity Super.Mkt, Coach, Crocs, Flying Tiger Copenhagen, GUESS, HARIBO, JD Sports, Jewells, L.K. Bennett, Love Brownies, Lindex, Mango, Miniso, MOSS, Mulberry, New Look, NEXT, Oliver Bonas, Pandora, Pull&Bear, Sephora, Space NK, Stradivarius, Superdrug, Sweaty Betty, The Fragrance Shop, The Works, Uniqlo, Waterstones, Zara and many more.
We also manage end-to-end influencer marketing programmes – from identifying the right talent, to managing partnerships, content creation, and reporting – to deliver measurable results.
Examples of Umpf’s Retail Press Office Experience
Alongside big campaign moments, our day-to-day activity is central to keeping retail brands in the spotlight. We draft and issue press releases – whether it’s a store opening, upsize, new campaign, or seasonal event – pitch features on shopping and lifestyle trends, secure interviews for spokespersons, organise photo calls, arrange launch events, and handle award entries.
Using our longstanding media contacts in retail, lifestyle, and consumer press – as well as online tools and journalist request platforms – we ensure our clients’ news lands in the right places. Our proactive outreach means media come to us too, trusting Umpf to provide engaging stories and expert commentary for their readers.
6 Umpf Retail PR Campaigns That Made Headlines
1. PR launch for Sidemen Clothing – First-Ever Physical Retail Store Launch
To launch the world’s first Sidemen Clothing store at Bluewater, we generated hype that saw fans travel from as far as the USA. The opening day drew over 10,000 visitors, boosted footfall by 23%, and secured 55 pieces of coverage with a press reach of 56.3m. Popular member KSI amplified the launch with a Tweet declaring the group had “Just shutdown Bluewater.”
2. St David’s Shopping Centre, Cardiff – Oasis Footfall-Driving PR Campaign
In June 2026, we unveiled a footfall-driving PR stunt for our retail client, St David’s shopping centre in Cardiff. We commissioned Welsh artist Nathan Wyburn to create a 20ft x 13ft black and white portrait of the Gallagher brothers made entirely from trademark Oasis bucket hats (3,000 in total). The week before the Oasis roadshow rolled into town we unveiled our ‘Wonder Wall’ portrait in the shopping centre and the media response was electric – 340 pieces of UK and international coverage including broadcast pieces on BBC, ITV, Channel 5, and Sky News, and print in Metro, Guardian, New York Times, Rolling Stone, and more. Tens of thousands of fans have visited St David’s to capture photos, selfies and social media content.
Read the full Oasis Bucket Hat PR Stunt
3. Trinity Leeds Shopping Centre – Street Renaming PR Stunt
To celebrate Leeds United’s promotion to the Premier League, we renamed a street in Trinity Leeds after manager Marcelo Bielsa. The stunt was executed in two phases: first with a mocked-up sign and media sell-in, then a live photocall unveiling the real sign alongside a temporary rebrand to “Trinity Leeds United.” The campaign generated 821 pieces of coverage, with over 95% including logo-branded imagery, and reached international media across Europe, the US, South America, and Australasia.
4. Buchanan Galleries – Billy Connolly Minifigures PR Stunt
For Buchanan Galleries, we created limited-edition Billy Connolly ‘Wee Big Yin’ minifigures to raise funds for Glasgow Children’s Hospital Charity. A dual press-release strategy, in-centre launch, and social media build-up saw the figures sell out in just 4 hours, raising £9,766 – a record amount for the charity at a shopping centre in such a short time. The stunt generated 33 pieces of coverage across 17 publications, boosted footfall by 7.6%, and achieved a combined social reach of 130k. Billy Connolly himself praised the campaign, calling it one of the highlights of his career.
5. St David’s Cardiff – Taylor Swift Friendship Bracelet PR Campaign
To tie into The Eras Tour’s arrival in Cardiff, we created a friendship bracelet PR campaign t at St David’s – giving away 2,000 free bracelets (including special-edition Welsh versions) in the build up to concert day. We promoted via press outreach, social content, and a TikTok influencer, and asked guests to sign up to the centre’s mailing list to receive a bracelet. The result: 22 pieces of media coverage (national titles including Indy100 & Daily Mirror), a reach of around 22 million people, and huge organic growth in social followers & website sign-ups. Guests queued more than an hour early, all praising the organisation, atmosphere, and, of course, their free friendship bracelets.
6. Love Brownies – Store Opening Blueprint
We created a comprehensive launch strategy and PR blueprint for nationwide high-street bakery brand Love Brownies. We delivered an end-to-end PR campaign, from press releases, regional media visits to managing influencer engagement and launch day activations. We managed the entire process, creating a mini PR campaign for ten store openings where each was a tailored, regionalised campaign to driver awareness and footfall, connecting with the local community. The approach, across ten UK store openings, generated consistent, high-impact coverage. The flagship Leeds opening alone secured 23 pieces of press coverage across regional and lifestyle media and 17 influencer collaborations, amplifying reach, brand visibility and creating independent, third-party endorsement.
Umpf’s Retail & High Street PR Awards
Our award-winning retail PR campaigns have been recognised nationally and regionally, with a total of 18 accolades over the past 8 years:
2025
- PR Moment Awards 2025 – Event of the Year – Landsec St David’s, Nessa’s Grand Arcade
- PR Moment Awards 2025 – Retail PR Campaign of the Year – Landsec St David’s, Nessa’s Grand Arcade
- CIPR Excellence Awards 2025 – Beauty, Fashion & Lifestyle Campaign – Clarks Village, Pawsome Pooch
- CIPR Excellence Awards – Beauty Fashion & Lifestyle Campaign (Mark of Excellence) – Clarks Village, World’s Biggest Santa Skate
2021
- CIPR Excellence Awards 2021 – Best Use of Media Relations – Trinity Leeds, Street-renaming puts Shopping Centre Back on the Map
- CIPR Pride Awards 2021 – Best Use of Media Relations – Landsec Trinity Leeds, Street-Renaming Puts Shopping Centre Back of the Map.
- PR Moment Awards 2021 – Stunt of the Year – Landsec Trinity Leeds, Street-Renaming Puts Shopping Centre Back of the Map.
- PR Moment Awards 2021 – Low Budget Campaign of the Year – Landsec Trinity Leeds, Street-Renaming Puts Shopping Centre Back of the Map.
2020
- Creative Moment Awards 2020 – PR Stunt of the Year – Landsec Trinity Leeds, Street-Renaming Puts Shopping Centre Back of the Map.
2019
- Revo Purple Apple Marketing Awards 2019 – Merit Winner – White Rose
- Revo Purple Apple Marketing Awards 2019 – Merit Winner – Westgate Oxford
- CIPR Excellence Awards 2019 – Integrated Campaign – SLB PR, Umpf & Leeds BID, Made Up Leeds
- PR Moment Awards 2019 – Stunt of the Year – Trinity Leeds, Bike of the Roof
2018
- CIPR Pride Awards 2018 – Best Use of Photography or Design – Trinity Leeds, Bike-on-the-Roof PR Stunt is 1st Glass
- CIPR Pride Awards 2018 – Best Event – Trinity Leeds, Private Gigs in Student Digs
- Purple Apple Winner 2018 – Merit Winner – Strategic Marketing Campaign – Trinity Leeds, Wonder Gift Reboot
2017
- PR Moment Awards 2017 – Best Use of Content (Silver) – Trinity Leeds, The Real Deal
- CIPR Pride Awards 2017 – Regional Campaign of the Year – Umpf, Trinity Leeds is The Real Deal
Why Choose Umpf as Your Retail PR Agency
- Proven experience – more than 10 years working with leading retail and high street brands.
- Award-winning creativity – campaigns recognised regionally, nationally, and globally.
- Integrated approach – from influencer marketing to experiential stunts, press office to social campaigns.
- Results-driven – we secure national headlines, boost footfall, and drive measurable commercial outcomes.
Let’s Talk Retail PR
If you’re looking for a specialist retail PR agency to raise awareness, grow reputation, or drive footfall, let’s chat. Get in touch with our teams in Leeds or London to find out how we can make your brand the next big story.