What happens when two senior account execs take on a challenge against other rising talent in the industry? Introducing the TriUmpfs.
Umpfers Leanne and Meg joined forces to compete as the TriUmpfs in PRmoment’s PR League, sponsored by Releasd – a high-stakes competition designed to spotlight the brightest rising talent in PR and Corporate Communications. Across four demanding stages, they faced simulated of PR challenges – including research, creative campaign ideation, pitching to an audience, and crisis management – and took on fierce competition from 19 teams, all vying for a coveted Top 10 spot.
The TriUmpfs undertook the challenge the Umpf way – with plenty of enthusiasm and wit. Read on for more about their experience and learnings…
Research and Respond
To kick off the challenge, the TriUmpfs were tasked with researching and writing a response to two an essay-style questions –
- What is the future of PR and
- What skills with the PR professionals of the future need?
This task pushed the TriUmpfs to flex their research skills and craft a clear, well‑thought‑through argument.
Putting out (hypothetical) fires
Stage two of the challenge dropped the TriUmpfs into the fast lane with one mission: step into the shoes of the communications team for a fictional mobile phone company facing a fiery product safety issue and complete a one-hour live crisis simulation.
The issue? Overheating devices were sparking customer backlash and fast-spreading media coverage. As the situation rolled out by the minute, it quickly turned into a full-blown plate-juggling exercise (plates very much on fire!) with press enquiries, social noise, misinformation, and direct customer concerns all landing at once. With the clock ticking, the real test wasn’t just what to do next, but how to prioritise, stay calm, and keep the tone steady when everything was moving at speed.
While intense (to say the least…!), it was a great insight into how fast a crisis can escalate in the digital age – and how important it is to stay clear-headed and responsive in the middle of it all.
A peek behind the ‘#snacksparency’ curtain
In the third stage, the TriUmpfs were pushed into full creative mode with a challenge that saw them to dream up a bold consumer PR campaign for new challenger snack brand ‘The Hungry Planet’, pitching this to a panel of judges made up of experts and figure-heads within PR.
Built around the idea that snacks can be good for you and the planet, the vision was #Snacksparency, a campaign about ‘making the invisible visible’, brought to life through The Snacksparency Lab – an immersive activation inspired by the glass box pop-up in Grand Central Terminal for Severance – and designed to reveal the brand’s planet-positive supply chain to life. Backed by a multi-channel approach of influencer campaigns, social content, and QR-led urban discovery, the pre-launch campaign drove buzz, and ultimately gave consumers chance to see, taste, and understand the impact of their snacks first hand – linking storytelling directly to trial and engagement.
Momentum didn’t stop there: founder Zac Sewer was positioned as a sustainable pioneer and thought leader, impact results were shared transparently to prove purpose beyond product, and bespoke journalist desktops and scroll-stopping Instagram and TikTok content kept #Snacksparency firmly in the spotlight.
Entering the FlowState
Like stage three, the final stage saw the TriUmpfs pitch to a panel of judges – this time tackling a B2B brief for fledgling SaaS brand Innovate & Connect, and bringing the same sharp storytelling and creative strategy to the table.
With most of their day-to-day rooted in consumer PR, the team went back to basics: audience research and a scan of the SaaS landscape. Reddit did the job: users were fatigued, burnt out, and frustrated. So the team built a campaign that put those people first – enter: FlowState.
The campaign kicked off with an impact survey to answer one question: what’s breaking your flow? The findings would feed a ‘Flow Disruption Index’ – a set of pain points the team could turn into PR hooks, social content, case studies, and thought leadership, positioning Innovate & Connect as the partner that helps teams protect focus and cut friction.
To dial up visibility, they added a digital OOH campaign aimed at tech leaders and product managers – placed in high-footfall tech hubs where ‘always on’ is the norm. Then came ‘FlowState Before Breakfast’: an early-doors activation designed to bottle that rare feeling of being in flow. Media and tech workers were invited to an exclusive, curated networking moment – part productivity reset, part community builder.
To keep the story moving, they proposed a thought-leadership engine powered by the survey insights, fronted by Innovate & Connect’s CEO (and resident ‘Flow Expert’) – then housed it all on an Innovate & Connect Substack: a content hub for the best thinking, ready-to-lift CEO quotes and reactive commentary. A simple PR win, and a platform the brand can own.
Learnings
Across the four stages, the TriUmpfs proved they can do it all: think boldly and strategically, stay calm and collected in a crisis, and turn insight into campaigns with real cut-through. From future-facing PR thinking to managing a brand’s reputation as it (hypothetically) went up in flames, they showed exactly what Umpf does best: smart, audience-first thinking, a sharpened story, and confident execution.
The biggest takeaway? Be bold, be memorable, and back it up – because the safest idea in the room rarely wins.
