Umpf Diary – Foraging for food coverage, Springtime on the Farm and a Pawsome day out at Southside
- PR
- Social Media
And just like that, it’s Spring and we’ve made it a quarter of the way through the year – ‘where does the time go’ certainly springs to mind! And things haven’t slowed down at Umpf HQ either, with a busy April to keep the team on their toes. Here’s the low down…
It’s in the bag! Our ‘Bagvertising’ Campaign with Cooks Club hits the streets
The first part of our PR stunt to launch the new Cook’s Club hotel in Mallorca kicked off this month and generated headlines in the UK. We created a new (tongue-in-cheek) advertising medium – ‘bagvertising’ – and launched a search to find some ‘bagvertisers’ who would be happy to swap their existing suitcases for hotel-branded luggage in exchange for free holidays. Our bagvertisers will be showcasing their new Cook’s Club Calvia Beach luggage this month. Here’s just a snap shot of some of the coverage acheived from the stunt.
Foraging For Food Coverage
An exciting new client of ours is York’s neighbourhood ‘waste-less’ restaurant, Forage Bar & Kitchen, serving contemporary eclectic cuisine cooked over fire, and boasting monthly changing seasonal menus featuring local, foraged and fresh ingredients. The kitchen’s waste-less ethos sees excess cuts of high-quality fruits, vegetables and other foods carefully curated into flavour rubs, dressings and snacks resulting in delicious dishes such as a coffee-rubbed pork chop with used coffee grounds and a local wild garlic kimchi, as well as drinks like rhubarb pulp infused champagne, strawberry-top vodka and breakfast martinis. It’s just as delicious as it sounds!
We launched their new seasonal menu, with a tailored press release to local consumer and trade media, inviting carefully selected journalists to review the innovative food and drink offerings available at Forage. We’ve so far achieved 20 pieces of key local and trade coverage, including a glowing review featured as a double page spread in The York Press. Notable comments include: “If the Michelin judge comes a-calling, this dish alone should be enough to get Forage on their radar.” And “So (chef) hat’s off to the team at Forage for offering up a culinary adventure that is kind to the planet too.” The review was also featured in print and across The York Press’ social media channels, with a total circulation of over 103.2K.
Forage Bar & Kitchen champion high-quality, sustainable dishes, and we can’t wait to continue sharing their eco-friendly philosophy… with more journalist reviews incoming!
Springtime on the farm with Harrison Spinks
Last week after a productive client meeting, we were invited to visit Harrison Spinks’ farm at Hornington Manor. While some people may know it as a stunning wedding venue, it is also home to Grade II listed 17th century house, associated buildings and 300 acres of arable farmland.
The farm tour was a unique opportunity to see first-hand all the hard work done by the Harrison Spinks team, as well as chance for us to get our hands dirty and feed some of the animals ourselves (with varying degrees of success).
Its beds don’t start life in a factory but on its 300-acre farm. It is here that they rear sheep on rich untreated pastures and tend fertile fields of hemp and flax crops. These crops produce super absorbent fibres, helping to absorb moisture from the mattress while you sleep, keeping you cool and dry.
Harrison Spinks is a vertically integrated brand that prioritises ethical production, which means getting a behind the scenes look is a vital part of making sure we’re representing every part of the brand and the important work they do.
A Pawsome Day Out at Southside Shopping Centre – From a Dog’s Perspective
The team have been busy putting our proposed ‘Dogs’ Eye View’ activity together for our client Southside Shopping Centre in London.
To celebrate the shopping centre turning dog-friendly, we commissioned Kenji, a 1-year-old black Miniature Schnauzer to be the star of the show. Kenji was followed with a pet-friendly video camera as he padded around the centre with his owner during their day out at Southside, showcasing all the various activities a dog can do whilst visiting the centre including; devouring a Puppuccino at Black Sheep Coffee, exploring the centre, and meeting other local canine companions at BrewDog for an infamous ‘pawty’ – the resulting ‘dog cam’ footage was then turned into a doggy walkthrough video with a difference.
To coincide with National Pet Month (April), a press release was issued to the media to launch the campaign, whilst promoting the centre hosting its first ever dog-friendly event which invited dogs to put their paw to the test in a free agility session at the end of the month.
The event was a huge hit with all the pooches who took part in the free agility taster sessions, with many wagging tails as they weaved through poles and jumped through hoops.
Flying high at Bluewater
The team took one morning to the next level as they visited our client Bluewater Shopping Centre to try out the UK’s only outdoor skydiving machine experience at Hangloose Adventure.
While on-site, we helped coordinate interviews with the Centre Director at Bluewater and the Site Manager at Hangloose Adventure for a media feature on the increase of leisure activities on-site over the past 25 years.
As well as arranging for the journalist to try out the experience first-hand, we also got to step out of our comfort zone and try out the experience for ourselves!
And finally….
Throwing it all the way back to April Fool’s, when we launched the ‘world’s first black-out bulb’ for our client, 4lite, in the press and on the brand’s social channels.
With the help of our in-house studio, the team, we conjured up some creative that helped fool our audience into thinking that those bright sparks at 4lite had designed the innovative piece of tech, which enabled us to secure a half-page mention in the Express as well as featuring online too!
With loads of exciting plans in the pipeline, keep your eyes peeled for next month’s PR diary to see what the team got up to in May!