Submitted by House of Comms

Jellycat UAE Launch

House of Comms launched Jellycat in the UAE with a bespoke media and influencer event, delivering 110+ pieces of coverage and $193,000+ PR value in USD.

$193,000+ PR value in USDPR value in USD
22+ Media & Influencers in Attendancemedia and influencers in attendance
110+ Pieces of Coveragepieces of coverage
5M+ Reachreach

Case in 60 seconds

Jellycat had to enter the UAE and tell parents that a London based brand was now stocked at Bloomingdales, Harvey Nichols and Tyrano, while brand recognition sat with expat communities rather than the Arab audience.

The campaign appears to turn on the split between an expat audience that already held affection for Jellycat and an Arab audience meeting it for the first time, because the two require building love and building awareness rather than one message.

House of Comms built the launch around a single hosted experience in which media and influencers met the brand in person, so the products were encountered as objects to hold rather than as retail news.

House of Comms conceptualised and managed a bespoke launch event at Cala Vista, Mina A Salam for media and influencers, personalising invitations, décor, styling and gifting, and worked with paid Arab influencers alongside attending press.

House of Comms reports 22+ media and influencers in attendance, 110+ pieces of coverage, $193,000+ PR value in USD and 5M+ reach, with attendees including Grazia Magazine.

Strategy Breakdown

The primary strategy-learning section — interpretation, not a press-release summary.

Parents in the UAE, covering expat communities already familiar with Jellycat and an Arab audience where the brand needed education and awareness.
A London toy brand carries built in recognition for expat parents in the UAE while meaning nothing to an Arab audience, so the launch had to work as reminder and as introduction at once.
Soft toys are bought on tactile affection rather than on specification, which the page addresses through an event where media and influencers handled the products rather than through announcement of retail listings.
Jellycat was positioned as a brand now shoppable at Bloomingdales, Harvey Nichols and Tyrano, so the agency's role was to attach availability to existing brand love rather than to build a new proposition.
Based on the available evidence, the gifting of toys for guests' own children reads as a bid to move the brand from professional coverage into personal posting, because a toy in a child's hands generates content an event photograph does not.

Creative & Execution System

Assets & channels

  • UGC

Partners

  • House of Comms (lead_agency)

Participation mechanic

  • Guests were gifted specific Jellycat toys for their children after the event experience, which the agency describes as encouraging further user generated content with personal associations to the brand.

Creator role

  • Basma Hamze — creator
  • Carmel Harrison — creator
  • Nadya Hassan — creator
  • Ola Farahat — creator
  • Raquel Zaatar — creator
  • Samantha Francis — creator
  • Tamara Farra — creator
  • Tia Lineker — creator
  • 22+ media & influencers in attendance
  • paid Arab influencers

Results & Evidence

MetricValueResult type
PR value in USD$193,000+ PR value in USDperformance
media and influencers in attendance22+ Media & Influencers in Attendancecreators_count
pieces of coverage110+ Pieces of Coverageperformance
reach5M+ Reachreach

Why House of Comms's strategy worked

  1. 1

    Gifting a product a guest can give to their own child converts an event attendance into a domestic scene worth posting, which is why the agency describes the gifting as encouraging further user generated content.

  2. 2

    A market entry carrying both a familiar expat audience and an unfamiliar local one is served by an in person format, because a room can hold established press and paid Arab influencers against the same set of products.

  3. 3

    Naming the three stockists in the challenge suggests the event was measured on coverage that carried purchase availability rather than on brand impressions alone.

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