Purple Riot was appointed to launch SevenYays, a premium gifting brand to market with an integrated strategy comprising solid PR and media relations, gifting, social media strategy and content, and influencer partnerships.
Our challenge was to take a completely unknown start-up and new-to-market concept and build national awareness, establish the brand with consumers and media, and drive people to discover and buy the product. developed a two-phase integrated launch campaign spanning six months, combining PR and media relations, targeted product gifting, influencer marketing and organic social content.
Phase one focused on introducing the SevenYays concept, products and founder story to media and consumers, while phase two used the launch of new collections for men, teens and children, Christmas gifting and corporate gifting to maintain momentum and create new opportunities for coverage.
Ahead of launch, we created a bank of lifestyle and product photography for use across the website, social media and PR campaign, giving SevenYays a strong suite of visual assets from day one.
Our press office and media relations strategy sat at the heart of the campaign.
Ahead of launch, we identified 50 key journalists and sent each a SevenYays calendar personalised to their individual tastes. Every package included a branded card with a QR code directing recipients to a dedicated VIP media area containing campaign information and assets.
We wanted journalists to experience the complete SevenYays customer journey, so alongside the surprise calendar they received themselves, each was gifted another box to send to somebody of their choice.
Alongside targeted media gifting, we launched SevenYays to a wider network of national consumer, lifestyle, gifting and business journalists, pitching the products for gift guides, features and relevant reactive opportunities.
Rather than relying on one launch story, we continued to develop new media hooks throughout the campaign. These included Father’s Day, wellbeing, men’s grooming and Christmas, alongside a story around the brand’s early success and the GCSE project that originally inspired the business.
Our media relations activity put SevenYays in front of audiences through titles including The Independent, OK! Magazine, Cosmopolitan, Heat, Stylist, Fabulous, Metro and Psychologies, alongside regional and business media including Manchester Evening News, Manchester Confidential, Financial Times and Retail Gazette.
Influencer gifting was designed to give creators a genuine experience of the product rather than simply send out identical PR packages.
We initially engaged 65 macro and micro influencers across lifestyle, home, drinks and wellbeing, personalising calendars around individual creators and their interests.
Creators including Feel Good Club, Shelley Loves and Zack Hipps, shared SevenYays through Instagram grid posts, Stories and Reels, showcasing both the countdown concept and the independent brands featured inside the boxes.
As SevenYays introduced new collections, we expanded the influencer campaign with further targeted gifting, creating additional opportunities to reach new audiences throughout the six-month campaign.
Purple Riot also developed SevenYays’ organic social media strategy and launch content.
We created teaser assets and a countdown campaign in the week leading up to launch, followed by an ongoing content strategy built around the products, brand story, gifting occasions, awareness days and feel-good content.
We also collaborated with SevenYays brand partners including Masons Gin and Space Masks on joint launch content, helping extend awareness through the audiences of the independent brands featured within the calendars.
Rather than allowing momentum to drop after launch, phase two introduced a new wave of PR, influencer and social activity around SevenYays’ expanding product range.
We launched new collections for men, teens and children, followed by the Christmas range, gifting products to targeted media and influencer contacts and pitching them into relevant seasonal gift guides and features.
We also identified an opportunity to take SevenYays into the corporate gifting market, positioning the personalised calendars as an alternative Christmas gift for businesses and targeting regional, national, trade and business media.
Across the six-month campaign, Purple Riot created a sustained launch platform for SevenYays, taking one strong founder story and continually finding new ways to put the brand, products and people behind it in front of relevant audiences.
By combining strategic media relations with product gifting, influencer marketing and social content, we gave an unknown start-up the visibility and credibility needed to establish itself in a highly competitive gifting market.
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