Umpf Diary – Our 2023 Year in Highlights
- Creative
- Influencer
- PR
- Social Media
It’s a new year and 2024 has already proved a busy one at the Umpf office, but we wanted to take a moment to fondly look back at 2023 and all that we achieved. Here’s a recap of some of our favourite highlights from the year:
January – Made Up With Blue Monday Masterclass
We collaborated with the winner of BBC Glow Up: Britain’s Next Make-Up Star Yong-chin Marika Breslin to help lift people’s spirits on Blue Monday with a special make-up masterclass at Buchanan Galleries Shopping Centre, which generated plenty of media coverage whilst increasing brand awareness and footfall.
Read more about it here.#
February – New Retail Client in the Bag
Southside appointed us to help raise awareness of their shopping centre in Wandsworth – which is home to nine mega unique immersive experiences under one roof at Gravity.
We also helped launch the ‘Heart of the Village’ at Braintree Village in Essex – a 10-day urban art takeover – inviting local influencers and press for a VIP preview night with artist and illustrator Rachael Presky, generating coverage with a reach of over 3.8million. Read more about it all here.
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March – Trinity Leeds Turns 10
Our client Trinity Leeds turned 10 on March 21st, marking the occasion with a celebration for 100+ staff members who have worked there since it first opened. We invited media along and secured print, online, TV and radio coverage, with live interviews from BBC Radio Leeds running throughout the day.
For our bedding and homeware brand murmur, we also secured fantastic national coverage, with a Harper’s Bazaar piece on the ‘finest luxury bedding’ plus pieces in The Sun, Express, MSN and Homes & Interiors Scotland. Lighting brand 4lite also saw 60+ pieces of coverage – so it was a bumper month for client coverage! See what else we got up to here.
April – ‘Bagvertisers’ Campaign Launch for Lifestyle Hotel Brand
We bagged some national coverage launched our unique ‘Bagvertising’ campaign for Cook’s Club to mark the launch of their new hotel at Calvia Beach, Mallorca. We created a new (tongue-in-cheek) advertising medium – ‘bagvertising’ – and launched a search to find some ‘bagvertisers’ who would swap their suitcases for hotel-branded luggage in exchange for free holidays.
Meanwhile we were flying high at Bluewater, joining a key journalist at the UK’s only outdoor skydiving machine experience at Hangloose Adventure. Umpf team member Danni got to try it for herself too! We also got up to some fun on the farm, and followed pawsome pooches around a shopping centre – read all about it here.
May – Hitting the Rhodes With Cook’s Club
One lucky Umpf-er headed to Rhodes for a press trip to showcase the newly opened Cook’s Club hotel in Kolymbia, enjoying everything from boat trips to cocktail masterclasses and waterfall walks – achieving several pieces of national coverage.
Check out what we were working on with Scottish style influencer ThankFifi, and which awards our MD Adrian was on the judging panel for here.
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June – Scaling New Heights
Parthian Climbing’s launch at Southside shopping centre saw us support with an exclusive ‘first look’ event for media – and we couldn’t resist having a go ourselves!
We were back in the sun once more with our hotel client Cook’s Club, where another Umpf team member jetted off to Mallorca to launch their Calvia Beach hotel with a group of national and lifestyle journalists in tow. They were treated to a tour of the beautiful city of Palma, a scenic boat trip and plenty of delicious food and drink.
Check out our full June diary here to see some special Pride assets designed by our own Studio team.
July – Office Outings and Launches Galore
It was a busy month as we helped launch Hangloose’s new attraction Skytrek at Bluewater plus their much-anticipated Sidemen store, which saw thousands of fans queuing from the early hours – with some even travelling from America.
Just shutdown Bluewater for our new Sidemen Clothing store pic.twitter.com/tcLyNTO0Tf
— ksi (@KSI) July 15, 2023
Click here to see how we gave the Umpf logo a Barbie-inspired makeover, and read all about our staff Summer Social.
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August – Sweet Surprises in Store
Our Cook’s Club Bagvertiser also jetted off on her free tip to Calvia Beach – read all about her trip here.
We supported Trinity Leeds with their ‘Pick Your Mix’ activity which saw a super-sized boom box installed with a silent disco plus free pick ‘n’ mix giveaways for guests. After hosting a ‘first look’ for media we achieved 19 pieces of coverage with a reach of almost 3million.
Clarks Village also celebrated its 30th anniversary with a three-day street party. We helped them achieve 46 pieces of coverage and a combined reach of 15.7million.
September – Big Wins for Team Umpf
Following a competitive pitch process, we were chuffed to be brought on board by The International Brewing & Cider Festival to raise awareness of the inaugural event and support with national PR, social media, paid social and email marketing. Keep your eyes peeled as the first event is set to take place in Manchester in March 2024.
We were also proud to announce that we were named amongst the best PR agencies in the north of England in Prolific North’s annual list. Well done team!
Find out how we supported the launch of pre-loved retailer Charity Super.Mkt at Bluewater here.
October – Busy With New Biz
It was a busy month for new clients and new business, with two new clients joining us in October plus a number of new business pitches, including opportunities for three international brands. We don’t talk about it often, but around 90% of our turnover comes from clients who approach us direct – a great endorsement for the agency and the quality of our work.
Also in November we hung out with Pudsey Bear, and our Studio team worked on Westgate Oxford’s Black History Month activity, ‘Trailblazers’ – read all about it here.
November – Awards, ads, and more
In a jam-packed month, we travelled down to BAFTA in London to support with the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Awards 2023, helped launch two exciting initiatives at Westgate Oxford (WasteLess Wonderland and Charity Super.Mkt), secured coverage for Landsec’s ‘Fabulous… Every Time’ Christmas ad voiced by Dame Joanna Lumley, helped manage and co-ordinate ice rink openings at four Landsec sites and oversaw live filming at Trinity Leeds for the Channel Four show Steph’s Packed Lunch.
And we officially joined forces with Yasper, backing Jules Pearce with his start-up comms agency. Find out more here.
December – Festive foodie fun in Harrogate
We topped off an incredible year with a special Christmas celebration for the Umpf team. We asked Leeds Food Tours if they’d be up for putting together a bespoke food tour for us in Harrogate – luckily they were up for the challenge and we had an amazing time sampling food and drinks at 5 different venues: Stuzzi, Domo, Blues Bar, Three’s a Crowd and Vanillis. Thank you Ellen for such a fab time!
