Hobbycraft Press Show

On the 4th and 5th July, the Hobbycraft team hosted the Hobbycraft Autumn Winter Press show at Drink, Shop, Do in Kings Cross.

We showcased hero products for Halloween and Christmas to over 120 journalists in two separate events; one evening event for bloggers with canapes and cocktails (of course) and a full day event for press.



From fillable bauble decorating and slime making (yes, that is a thing), to candle making and pyrography, attendees could get stuck into crafting if they were a beginner or an expert. The event kicked off with a Halloween showcase with scary decorations and baking accessories, including spider doughnuts and day of the dead cakes.



The main room was set up in stories, showing the media the key themes for Christmas – bright, metallic and scandi dominated. Each section was set up with a selection of makes across key categories.



We also had a craft workshop with guests able to make candles, a range of pyrography and bauble decorating.



The key purpose of the event was to launch the Hobbycraft Christmas workshop, ensuring attendees think of Hobbycraft as the go-to retailer for a handmade Christmas, and was thoroughly enjoyed by all.

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FEELING FESTIVE AT ZPR

Once again it’s Christmas in July and we kicked off with Waitrose showcasing its delicious offerings this year at 1 Belgravia.

A hero product, which appeared across the national press on the day, was chocolate mince pies- a favourite for chocolate lovers this Christmas. Also making headlines was a Prosecco infused turkey as the trend for boozy food ramps up this winter and the classic 70's black forest flavour, infused in venison, panetonne and desserts.

Over 200 journalists and bloggers had the chance to dine in the Waitrose Christmas pop up restaurant, with highlights from the menu including a gin smoked salmon starter, Red Cabbage Stuffing Balls, Black Forest Venison Rack, Gingerbread Turkey Crown, Goose Fat Potatoes, Mocha Cheesecake and a Salted Caramel Profiterole Tart.

This year customers from Waitrose will be able to snap up Heston’s iconic hidden orange Christmas pudding as well as a Black Forest Panetonne, Venison Paté and Edible Chocolate Baubles.

A favourite with the ZPR team was the new and improved party range which was bursting with flavour and colour. Mini Macaroni and Cheese Tarts, Arancini balls and Red Thai Pork Snowballs were the favourites- we know what our Christmas party is going to taste like this year!

And finally, what better way to enjoy Christmas in July than with a glass of English fizz. The show had an English and Welsh wine bar to showcase how Waitrose continues to offer the widest range of home grown fizz and wine in the market.

Merry Christmas!

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JD Williams SS17 celebrity activity and shoots

 The fashion team have been busy over the last few months working on a number of fabulous celebrity shoots for the JD Williams Spring Summer collection.

First up, we shot Esther Rantzen, Angie Best and Lorraine Kelly for some fundraising activity for JD Williams and their charity partner The Silver Line. The Silver Line is a free charity helpline set up by Esther Rantzen, to help combat loneliness and depression amongst elderly people. All 3 ladies modelled their favourite pieces from the SS17 collection, with 30% of their sales going to the charity helpline. The images landed alongside interviews with the ladies in a host of titles including, the Telegraph, S Mag, Hello! magazine and the Mirror online.

           

 Next up, was  Emma Forbes who was shot in the  JD Williams high summer collection by celebrity photographer and Britain’s next top model judge Nicky Johnston. The images landed on the cover of YOU magazine in June alongside an exclusive interview, where Emma shared her bikini body secrets and her approach to style in her fifties. Nick Tree also shot a beautiful behind the scenes film and short interview with Emma, which landed alongside campaign images on the Mail Online.

Lastly, we shot the gorgeous Lisa Snowdon who modelled the new JD Williams swimwear collection. The team flew out to Villa Monte in Portugal where Lisa was shot by celebrity photographer Nicky Johnston. The images landed in the Daily Mail, where Lisa shared her secrets on bikini body confidence in her forties.

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B. Makeup Re-launch Event

To celebrate the re-launch of B. Makeup, Superdrug hosted an exclusive preview event for press, bloggers, vloggers and makeup artists at Hoxton Hotel in Holborn. The event was a vegan house party where guests were invited for the first view of the makeup, to try the range and to meet Cassie Lomas, the celebrity Makeup Artist who is the collection’s ambassador.

B. Makeup offers professional quality, solution driven, vegan and cruelty free makeup. Everything has been created using insider expertise offering the products and knowhow to help everyone become their own makeup artist. The new range includes a capsule collection by celebrity MUA Cassie Lomas.

 

The event celebrated the brand’s 100% vegan message with delicious vegan cocktails, catering and delicious doughnuts. Key messages were dotted around the event space to reinforce the vegan and cruelty free.

At the event, there were three separate rooms. In the makeup room, guests including Made In Chelsea's Lucy and Tiffany Watson were treated to makeover from Cassie Lomas trained makeup artists using B. Makeup products and accessories. There was also a flat lay table for guests to create instagrammable pictures with the new collection.

Attendees were also able to view the rest of the B. range including all B. Skincare phases and the B. Men range. There was also a chillout area which has influencer DJ Mercedes Benson on the decks and Cassie Lomas talking through her capsule range. eLab content showcasing the range and Cassie Lomas tutorials were also on show to bring the collection alive.

 

At the end of the evening, attendees were gifted with a selection of the samples as well as a look book detailing information on all products with expert tips and tricks.

 

B. Makeup launched online at Superdrug.com on 31st May 2017 and will be in selected stores from 28th June 2017. 

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Afternoon Tea with Orla Kiely and Halfords at Claridge’s

On 7^th June the Halfords team hosted Orla Kiely and 40 journalists and bloggers at the launch of the second Olive and Orange by Orla Kiely collection at Claridge’s. An afternoon tea event that showcased the 32-piece exclusive collection, the event provided a sneak preview of the range, as well as interview opportunities and a chance to enjoy afternoon tea with Orla and her team.

With the advent of the summer season, and rising popularity of staycations, the journalists were introduced to the collection, which features three new graphic prints in Orla’s signature style.

The collection, which spans camping, cycling and motoring, was displayed, with hero products including the Dutch-style hybrid bike with a beautiful duck egg print across the chain and mudguards, bold and stylish cycle accessories including water bottles, bike bells and bike baskets, and products to brighten up the campsite, including a striking gazebo, new two-person tent, sleeping bags and festival chairs.

On a sunny day in London, journalists from the likes of Good Housekeeping, Evening Standard, Financial Times, YOU magazine and the Press Association sipped their Earl Grey – or glass of bubbly – and enjoyed a traditional afternoon tea, while checking out the collection, with a particular buzz around the folding bike and cycling accessories, as well as the picnic and camping accessories ahead of a glorious weekend.

All spoke with Orla, who spoke of her inspirations, creative process and her favourite pieces, as well as her hopes to enjoy her own staycations this year.

At the end of a beautiful afternoon, each guest was given a goody bag of products from the new collection, and full information on the range and the wider Halfords summer offering, some promising to visit to gear up for their own summer holidays.

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Halfords Electric Bike Press Trip

On Wednesday 12^th- Thursday 13^th April, the Halfords team hosted Olympian Victoria Pendleton, Victoria’s mother Pauline and ten high profile journalists at Dormy House Hotel and Spa in the Cotswolds. The trip’s purpose was to showcase and demonstrate the range of electric bikes that Halfords offers, giving attendees an opportunity to try them out. With the popularity of e-bikes growing rapidly, the journalists were keen to learn all about how they work, despite some of them not having ridden a bike for many years!

Victoria Pendleton and her mum Pauline trying out e-bikes

We rode a wide range of electric bikes across the Dormy estate. With lots of hills and bends, the route proved perfect for trying out all the capabilities of an e-bike, as the motor has different modes which give different levels of power, or push to the rider. It was fantastic to see people of all different levels of athletic ability enjoying the bikes. 

Happy afternoon riding e-bikes with Victoria Pendleton

The most popular e-bike of the day was Victoria Pendleton’s electric Somerby bike, an electric version of her incredibly popular Somerby model. Everyone loved how smart and sophisticated the bike was, yet it was really functional when tackling the big hills. Halfway through the ride, we stopped for a picnic by a beautiful lake on the estate.

Following the ride, attendees were treated to spa treatments, drinks and dinner. It was a fantastic trip, enjoyed by all and we definitely converted some of the Halfords team and journalists to take up riding e-bikes. 

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Ladbrokes Grand National 2017

For the Grand National 2017, we wanted to place Nation’s Favourite bookmaker Ladbrokes in the hearts and minds of those who have a flutter once a year.

We conducted a survey, asking Brits about their favourite things: from divine dinners (fish & chips) to best beverages (a cuppa tea), most beloved Bond actors (Sean Connery) to favourite members of the Royal Family (Prince Harry), top telly picks (Bake Off) to soap heroes (Dot Cotton), we got to the heart of what makes us tick as a nation. And the Grand National came up trumps as the nation’ favourite race. The survey was covered by The Sun.

And to give us a bit of a boost, and really help those who pop to the bookies to bet on the National, we worked with maths whizz, TV personality and national sweetheart Carol Vorderman to create a formula to pick a winner.

Carol wanted to create something simple, memorable and easy to use – and something using letters and numbers, keeping it firmly in the former Countdown-presenter’s comfort zone.

How it works:

Step 1: Take the first letter of your surname, and its place in the alphabet

a = 1   

b = 2   

C = 3

…

X = 24

Y = 25

Z = 26

                                               

Step 2: Add your favourite number between 0 and 14

Result: The resulting number between 1 and 40 is the number of the horse you should back

Example: Carol Vorderman’s number is 7

22 + 7 = Horse number 29

We photographed Carol with a good old fashioned bookies board, demonstrating the formula and how it works for her – and helping a nation of part-time punters choose the horse they’d back for the biggest race in the world.

And we captured her on film talking it through – Countdown-style – for Ladbrokes social media.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvjjNJITqfQ

With a six-week turnaround, we engaged our celebrity, commissioned a survey, coordinated a photo shoot and sold in on the second day of the National.

Carol’s cheeky winning formula was covered in The Daily Record and online on Express.co.uk and Mirror online.

In her interview with Daily Mail online, Carol spoke of her love of racing, attending the Grand National for the first time with her buddies from the I’m A Celebrity jungle and her tips for using her Ladbrokes formula.

An interview Carol did with Press Association, in which she ran through the formula and her reasons for creating it – was picked up by 224 regional and online titles, including Yahoo! UK and BT.com, Oxford Mail, Glasgow Evening Times, Express and Star, Dorset Echo and the Northern Echo.

And on Ladbrokes’ Facebook, the video was viewed by more than 19,000 people.

A huge thanks to Carol Vorderman, whose fun formula proved a big hit with the media – and with which one of our ZPR team picked their own winner!

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Coral's Grand Splashional

The Grand National is one of the nation’s most iconic and historic sporting events and takes place every April at Aintree.   To capture the excitement of this year’s race, Coral let us loose in Liverpool to stage our own aquatic version of the Grand National, featuring a team of highly skilled flyboarders, dressed as jockeys with model horses…what could go wrong?

This was a project of two halves.  Firstly, we needed to produce all of the components to hold the race and then we needed a PR plan to ensure that we maximized all opportunities to publicise our client Coral.

We had approximately three months to produce the race so that we could film it for the press and social media.  We needed to source the flyboarders, find a Liverpool location, costume designer, model makers for the horses’ heads, photographer, film crew and drone operator.    

We also needed to pray for good weather; fog, wind or rain would have delayed proceedings considerably.

The race deadline was April 3^rd, the day we were set to stage Coral’s Grand Splashional at the Liverpool Water Sports Centre.  The weather was on our side, a crisp morning with stunning sunshine and a breathtaking backdrop of some of Liverpool’s most recognisable landmarks. 

 The setting was perfect for us to re-enact the Grand National in our own epic style.  We filmed the tension of the build up to the event, the jostling for position at the start, the excitement of the 300m race and the euphoria of flying over the finish line.

With the filming in the can, the job was only half done - we had great content, it was now time to share it with the press.  Our efforts were not in vain, on the morning of April 5^th we woke up to three half-page spreads in The Sun, The Express and The Daily Star as well as widespread coverage in the regionals and online in several of the nationals and the video received nearly 80,000 views on social media.  The project came in on time, on budget and delivered great press and social coverage.

Hats off to Aquatic Jetpacks who provided the team of flyboarders and to the film crew who were out on the water too – the sun may have been shining but apparently that water was cold and they were in there ALL day!

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JD Williams says “Grow Up London Fashion Week”

On Friday 17^th February, the JD Williams team organised a protest, titled #GrowUpLFW, to campaign against age discrimination on the catwalk at London Fashion Week.

Standing outside Fashion Week’s main venue on The Strand, five models over the age of 45, including former models Jilly Johnson (63) and Janie Felstead (65), called for a wider use of older models on the runway.

With the current average age of models at LFW being 17, our five models challenged this and asked why models workload decreases with age, particularly on the runways of the capital’s renowned fashion event.

The models stood with placards featuring slogans including ‘Grow Up LFW’ and ‘Fashion Has No Age Limit’ and encouraged the press and public to join in.

Jilly Johnson was quoted: “Women don’t suddenly stop wearing or buying clothes after their twenties, so why isn’t this reflected in the models used in fashion shows?  We’ve started to be more inclusive when it comes to ethnicities and disabilities on the runway – which is fantastic – but why not all ages?”

The atmosphere before, during and after the protest was fantastic, especially as the models really believed in what they were campaigning for. We hope that this had an impact on the fashion industry and we will see a wider use of older models on the SS18 catwalks.

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Hobbycraft Press Show

Hobbycraft Press Show

On the 25^th and 26^th January, the Hobbycraft team hosted a fantastic press show to showcase the retailer’s Spring Summer 2017 ranges. From Easter, to a new own brand knitting range and Patrick Grant’s new sewing range, the event for journalists and bloggers was hosted at a very cool spot in Kings Cross- Drink, Shop, Do.

 

The night before the press show we hosted bloggers for an evening preview. The lifestyle and craft bloggers enjoyed cocktails and canapés and loved making and creating Easter bonnets, painting Easter bunnies and making crochet daisies. We were lucky enough to have a number of fantastic ambassadors at the event including Sewing expert Libby Rose, and Fashionista Rosy Nicholas. Guests made Easter Bunny Bags with Libby Rose, who drives around the country in her sewing van teaching adults and children how to sew.

 

 Rosy Nicholas loved painting and personalising Mache Bunnies with pom poms, glitter and sequins with attendees, as well as modelling her homemade Easter Bonnet.

  Patrick Grant attended on the Thursday to showcase his new exciting tailoring range to press.

 

 Wilton, a supplier to Hobbycraft, showcased everything new in cake decoration for 2017, including new icing flavours and cool cake trays.

 

Press loved the Giant Easter Bunnies and beautiful Cricut crafted flower hanging garlands which hung from the ceiling.

 
 What a fabulous two days! We had a wonderful time showcasing all sorts of Hobbycraft newness to the press and bloggers and we can’t wait to do it all again this Summer for our Christmas ranges.

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GOSH SS17 Event

Tuesday 7th February saw the preview of GOSH Copenhagen's SS17 collection at St Martin's Lane Hotel. The event showcased GOSH's new collection which launched exclusively at Superdrug on the 8th February. Bloggers were able to get a sneak peek of the collection while also getting expert advice on how to apply the products from GOSH's global MUA Sidsel Marie Bog.

The products in the collection includes Matte Lipsticks, Infinity Eye Liner, Double Pro Liner, Giant Pro Kajal, Eye Xpression Eyeshadows as well as Lumi Drops, Volume Serum Mascara and Liquid Mate Lipsticks which  the new beauty power ingredient - Dandelion. 

The event had Danish inspired canapes to link with the Copenhagen theme and each guest received a goody bag which was filled with the new collection.

50 key beauty bloggers and media were in attendance including Beauty Geek, Talonted Lex, Reveal, BeautyQueen and FashionEyesta.

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