Umpf diary – our 2022 highlights

January – Hitting the ground running

We wasted no time getting to work in the New Year and set up life-sized brick tiger models for our client Gunwharf Quays to celebrate the Chinese New Year. We reached more than 1 million people in the Portsmouth region, securing eight pieces of regional coverage.

We also took time to highlight the dedication of Brian Chorley, who had worked for our client Clarks Village for 70 years without a single day off sick, we gained fantastic coverage from the story on the ITV News, Steph’s Packed Lunch, The Mirror, The Sun and all key Somerset regional publications. Read more here.

February – A month for hosting and launching

Our client Bluewater hosted Stephen Mulhern’s new TV game show in February with an exciting array of live performances from magicians, comedians and many more talented acts. We also organised a launch party for our client Trinity Kitchen’s street food revamp, inviting influencers to enjoy some fantastic food from the newly renovated vans, as well as great music from a live DJ. Read more here.

March – Tick, Tick (Coverage) Boom, a timely PR story

Ahead of the March clocks change we commissioned research on behalf of our lighting client 4lite to find out if Brits wanted to scrap the twice-yearly clock change in favour of sticking to British Summer Time, thus giving us more daylight hours in winter. The campaign, ahem, clocked up 45 pieces of coverage with a reach of almost 50m.

We worked with St David’s in Cardiff to celebrate the best of Wales with a limited-edition make-up palette in honour of St David’s Day 2022. The Colours of Cymru eyeshadow palette had 35 vivid colours and paid homage to Welsh sayings and icons, with shades including Chippy Lane Sglodion, Castell Coch, and Welsh Cake. It achieved online and broadcast coverage reaching almost 1 million, and regional influencers showcased the palette and a competition to win one, with more than 1,600 entries. Read more.

April – Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice…

For April Fool’s, we worked with Hangloose Adventure to turn England’s longest zip wire into a giant, 720-metre-long washing line. The PR stunt cleaned up with 36 pieces of coverage including features in The Sun and the Daily Mirror. Our hijinks didn’t stop there, as we also launched ‘solar-powered lightbulbs’ with our client 4Lite, which was certainly a bright idea, achieving 30 pieces of coverage. Read more.

May – A PR Moment to remember!

In May we were proud to pick up two gongs at the national PR Moment Awards, for Integrated Communications and Media Relations, with judges gushing over our ‘superb visual media relations’. Read the award-winning case study.

We also worked on a, pun intended, blooming marvellous campaign with Shilpa Reddy Flower Designs.

June – Busk stop till you get enough

Our very own Junior Designer, Lucy Watson, supported Junction 32 to create a vibrant new art illustration for the centre, transforming an empty shop window into a contemporary and engaging display for shoppers to admire. Lucy and her artwork was widely featured in the media.

Our ‘Busk Stop’ PR stunt for Trinity Leeds, which landed across the media also made it onto BBC’s The One Show where presenter Matt Allwright did a special performance with TikTok singing sensation Liv Harland.

June also saw us celebrate: The British Street Food Awards; the one-year anniversary of England’s longest and fastest Zipwire (complete with flying birthday cake); how to make the perfect cup of tea; plus the launch of the Umpf ‘Last Thursday Club’. Read all about it.

July – Press trips and gardening tips!

In July we hosted a sizzling, sun-soaked press trip to Marmaris, Turkey with our client Cook’s Club to publicise its Adakoy hotel, arranging for six journalists and a travel influencer to visit the incredible location and take part in a range of fun activities. The trip secured 20 pieces of national and regional coverage including The Mirror, Heat (below) and OK!

For our client Keepmoat, we worked with gardening expert, Shannon Keary, known as Diary of a Lady Gardener, to create a YouTube video. Shannon gave first-time buyers advice for looking after your garden which was very successful and amassed over 254k impressions. Read more.

August – Summer successes

In August our London team launched two new visitor attractions at Hangloose Adventure, including Europe’s biggest swing and the UK’s only outdoor skydiving machine, earning us 160+ pieces of coverage. We were also delighted to take on a new client with the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award to help raise awareness for their 2022 competition. We also helped our client Gunwharf Quays launch their Summer Boardwalk of attractions, including a 35-metre-high Wonder Wheel! Our outreach saw 120 press and influencers attend the launch, generating coverage with an impressive reach of over 3.3 million.

September – Onwards and upwards!

In September we helped William Hill announce the longlist for their prestigious book awards, achieving a total reach of over 24.9 million. Our Umpf Studio team also created some paw-fect filters for our client Clark’s Village Pawsome Pooch competition.

We were extremely proud to have not just moved up two places in the Prolific North ‘Top 25 PR Agencies’ league table for 2022, we were also named as one of ‘Top 20 Fastest Growing PR Agencies‘. Well done team!

October – From dogs to hedgehogs

After months of planning, the Pawsome Pooch event went live for our client Clark’s Village Shopping Outlet, with 300 dogs entering and 1,500 public votes cast – and it was 4-month-old Bailey the whippet who took the crown.

In other animal-based news, we launched a hedgehog highway for our client Keepmoat to help our spiky friends get around at night, with professional photography and footage giving us some great social content. Finally, we celebrated Westgate Oxford’s 5th birthday, garnering coverage from BBC Radio Oxford, BBC South Today and Oxford Mail. Read more about the dogs and ‘hogs.

Umpf Studio has had a busy month producing a host of incredible online and social media content for our clients. From creating filters to developing coffee and cocktail themed competitions, and not forgetting bringing back the magic of Christmas, there’s never a dull day for the team.

November – Going for gold despite the cold

Kelly Clark, an employee at client Keepmoat, took both silver and gold in the Commonwealth Powerlifting Championships in New Zealand in November. We achieved some fantastic coverage for her achievements, including ITV Calendar, iNews and the Yorkshire Post. Our client Clark’s Village also unveiled a 550-metre-squared ice rink, which we launched with an exclusive VIP event with journalists and influencers attending to enjoy bubbly, a DJ and some fantastic professional skaters. ITV News even attended for a live broadcast. Read more.

December – Festive fun and Christmas coverage

On our last working day of the year, we secured 45+ pieces of coverage for our new homes and interiors client, murmur. The coverage propelled murmur’s Christmas product gift guide into titles nationwide, with a circulation reaching over 11 million. If that wasn’t exciting enough, Mail Online also featured murmur’s Spa Collection, achieving a circulation of over 13 million.

Finally, we celebrated the festive season together at the Umpf Christmas do, where we made our own chocolates at York Cookery School (with varying levels of success) and enjoyed some drinks before an incredible meal at Star Inn The City which we all haven’t stopped talking about.