
‘The Launch’ — A powerful and important opportunity
by Rachel Lewis, Retail and Lifestyle Chief at Wigwam PR
‘The Launch’ — the topic that can so often send otherwise confident retailers, organisations or individuals into a spin. How? When? To whom? Where? For any new venture, a launch is a valuable opportunity to draw attention to your brand or service; to present yourselves to the wider public, your stakeholders and most importantly, your potential new customers. It’s a powerful and important opportunity, and this is why it is so important to get it right.
One great example of our launch work at Wigwam PR, was that of bringing the Caribbean food chain, Turtle Bay, to Guildford. Tasked with creating a guest list of 1,000 ‘movers and shakers’ for the advent of this, the 13th, in the Turtle Bay empire, we set to work in ensuring we reached the best and most valuable audience to experience this memorable launch.
For those who are familiar with the Turtle Bay chain, it will come as no surprise that the launch was to take the form of a large Caribbean party — think street food, rum shacks, reggae and rasta. A fail-safe formula perhaps, but despite the mirrored content for each of the national Turtle Bay launches, the company was dedicated to making each local launch as targeted to and as relevant for its market as possible. Indeed, hiring a local PR firm was a good indicator of this.
From makeup counter assistants on the High Street to the local MP; barbers based in the town’s surround to ‘ladies who lunch’ in the Surrey Hills; the University’s Afro Caribbean Society to local Blue Chip Executives — we had it covered, engaging with each of these groups via social media, digitally and in person. Turtle Bay was relevant for all of these audiences albeit in different ways. Contrary to what people may traditionally think, the press element was almost the last thought. Word of mouth — the PR grail — was almost all we needed.
But we would be remiss not to mention that naturally all local media outlets attended and covered the launch, resulting in 22 pieces of coverage across local print, digital and broadcast media. Meanwhile the Guildford populous talked about it for days! Turtle Bay comes to town — bang!
