Poundland x Arena PR

Publicity Stunts

Poundland are known for being an affordable high street retailer with a brand identity of being fun and uplifting. They have regular social media marketing about products they sell in stores but recently teamed up with Arena PR to promote more brand awareness with publicity stunts that represent the fun and uplifting feel of the brand.

Challenges

The teams had the ideas in place and communicated with relevant agencies to make these public events a success. Although both companies found it would be best to capture as much as possible and create engaging content to allow these projects to have a further reach online. Having already worked with Poundland on colleague engagement content meant we were already suggested during the pre-production to be used for capturing and helping with the event process.

The content needed to look professionally made and not just captured on a smartphone as it wouldn’t have had the same impact amongst the rest of the content presented on their social media platforms. The videos needed to get quick to the point of the video as to compete with the low attention span content common on popular social media platforms. There was also a quick turnaround with most of the content which would add pressure due to the amendment process.

Working within public spaces meant there was a lot more hurdles in place for health and safety as well as authorisation for filming from participants. There needed to be as much public interaction on the day showing a popular, bustling environment to present the company as favored among their competitors.

Solutions

Before the events, we spent a lot of time discussing the relevant steps to make sure it was safe as well as making sure everyone was covered by public liability insurance. To anticipate the fast turnaround, we studied similar content online and had music, graphics and effects in place on a project file so the editing would be as quick as possible. That way, the only amendments would be changing wording or swapping a shot for a more appropriate one.

Our team arrived on site a long time before any other relevant teams to recce the locations to present the drawbacks to the events relevant to safety protocols. When providing a sound system/staging for some of the events we spent as much time covering and tidying wires as well as highlighting areas to the public that could have been a hazard. During filming in busy areas, we had one person as a spot for the camera operative to make sure no accidents occurred to injure the team or a member of the public.

During the filming, we used a DJI RS3 Pro so that the camera operative could move around and constantly have a usable shot due to it being stabilized. This meant that moments that would stand out within the final video were never missed. The team also utilised the DJI Mic 2 and attached it to the relevant personality on site (Anthea Turner, Tom Campbell, Captain Beany). As a result, even if the camera operative was capturing something more important there were always interesting pieces of dialogue captured audibly.

As for capturing the public, we made sure that we filmed their consent which acted as a release form. Due to the nature of the projects, a physical written release form would have halted the fun process of whatever the event was. This allowed the natural and excited reactions from the participants to continue throughout filming.

RESULTS

As of the middle of September 2024, multiple PR stunts had been completed and visual content had been published on relevant media channels. The events ran smoothly and had no problems with public due to the extensive checks put in place before and during the projects. Being able to capture the public very quickly off the street allows the videos to portray the natural and exciting feeling around the events. There were many great lines used extensively in the videos which keeps a fast paced feeling for the content.

The content had great reception online and were also greatly complimented by the teams that we provided to on the fast turnaround of such interesting projects.

For example, after the last event we did, Andrea Ross from Arena PR had said “as always you’ve done a great job.” We also had comments like “This is ace. We have our call with the marketing team now, so we’ll show it them”. At Hughes Productions we think providing that quick turnaround allowed more communication between the multiple teams which hopefully made their workflow a lot easier.

The social media manager for Poundland also let us know that they “Loved the Majestic Hotel vid – nailed it! It’s doing really well on Twitter”. Having this type of feedback within the video and events industry is quite rare as it is such a hectic industry but these comments demonstrate that our clients were impressed with our work ethic and general ease of communication.

TALK TO US ABOUT YOUR NEXT PROJECT

It all starts with an idea, we are on hand 24/7 to discuss your ideas and make your vision a reality.

Here at Hughes Productions, we have the creative ability and experience to make every project the best it can be regardless of your budget.