How we did it

Planned with just three weeks’ notice, our idea was to create a real life ‘Nessa’s Slots’ inside St David’s, a homage to the show’s Vanessa Shanessa ‘Nessa’ Jenkins.  

We engaged the BBC, the iconic Barrybados brand in Barry – home to Nessa’s Slots in the show – and well-known impersonator Knock-Off Nessa to develop an event which would resonate with the public. We sourced and branded claw machines, filled with 2,000 Gavin & Stacey-themed prizes – fun jokes and references from the show to create memorable moments for centre guests.  

To make the set realistic, we incorporated photos of Barry Island and decorated it with deckchairs, candy floss, and seaside paraphernalia, plus arcade sound effects. The event was opened by Knock-Off Nessa, who was on-set throughout the day to engage with visitors.  

The claw machines were free to play and distributed a prize every time, meaning that guests were sure to walk away happy, and promo teams were on-hand to support Knock-Off Nessa and keep things moving smoothly.  

As a lasting dedication, we also renamed St David’s Grand Arcade as ‘Nessa’s Grand Arcade’, with a plaque installed to commemorate the change.  

With the event taking place on a Saturday before Christmas, some interested local media were unable to attend and requested content be shared with them instead, so the Umpf team managed content approval and distribution on-site to help secure coverage.  

The results

The event secured 40 pieces of coverage with a reach of 11.6m, as well as more than 2,000 new social followers, with posts about the event generating double the average engagement rate.  

Even better, Gavin & Stacey creator and Nessa actor Ruth Jones proactively reached out to the St David’s team to share how much she loved the event, calling it ‘a lovely tribute to the character and the show’. To say thank you for the kind words, we commissioned a mini replica of the blue plaque inside St David’s and sent this to Ruth as her own memento.