Catchpole & Rye
Building hype in the media for a luxury bathroom brand celebrating the launch of a new product, and the 10th anniversary of their London showroom
Services delivered
PR strategy and execution
Event coordination and media outreach
Press office management
Photoshoot ideation
Event organisation/management
Campaign-specific digital strategies
THE CHALLENGE
Renowned for its heritage British design and manufacture, Catchpole & Rye is a leader in the luxury bathroom design sector. Founded by Tony and Elaine O’Donnell in 1991, 2024 marked the launch of the first new product in a number of years - our challenge was to refresh brand awareness and spark excitement in the run-up to the official launch day. This coincided with an important milestone for the business, celebrating 10 years of the Fulham Road showroom.
Despite existing awareness of the brand, the aim was to establish Catchpole & Rye as the go-to supplier of luxury bathroom products in B2B and B2C markets and introduce a more contemporary design direction for the brand.
OUR SOLUTION
Sandford created a comprehensive PR strategy, providing specific media plans and wider ideas that would help grow brand awareness, before seeding photography and launch details of the new design.
Key initiatives included:
PR STRATEGY
Sandford started by crafting a bespoke strategy for a product launch announcement, managed press inquiries and secured broad coverage across relevant publications.
We implemented a comprehensive brand awareness campaign in the run-up to launch, ensuring coverage was secured in both print and digital media
In addition, we maximised available case study imagery to offer additional in situ imagery with editors, increasing possible avenues for press inclusion.
We developed opportunities for increased awareness of the Head of Design, Lizzi Catchpole, positioning her as a spokesperson for thought leadership opportunities.
We also compiled ideas and styling suggestions for the photography of new products, ensuring that multiple aesthetics and setups were captured.
EVENT MANAGEMENT
For their London showroom, we planned and executed a launch event for key media attendees (as well as trade contacts of the brand) and developed a press gifting campaign for invitees unable to attend, post-event.
DIGITAL SUPPORT
To ensure a cohesive approach, our digital team developed a comprehensive social media strategy to drive engagement and consideration, including audience personas and competitor analysis.
We also created individual social media campaign strategies - new product launches, influencer collaborations, and thematic industry-specific content. Finally, we oversaw influencer agreements and contracts for various collaborations.
THE RESULT
We secured over 40 pieces of editorial coverage across 6 months, with an estimated 2.99m views. More than 15 of these pieces are ‘news’ features secured building hype around the new product launch.
Our targeted digital PR outreach resulted in 18 pieces of coverage secured on online platforms, with an average Domain Authority of 64 - successfully driving traffic to the Catchpole & Rye website.
We had nearly 3 million views across 25 publications, with 4.3k engagements across social media platforms.