Staffordshire County Council and We Are Staffordshire wanted to use UKREiiF, the UK’s leading real estate investment and infrastructure forum, to showcase the county’s offer and secure meaningful media attention. Pearl Comms, as property, construction, housing and development specialists, supported the delegation with a strategic PR, media and content programme designed to cut through a crowded conference environment.  

Drawing on deep sector experience and repeat attendance at UKREiiF, Pearl Comms focused on three pillars – targeted media outreach, thought leadership and live content capture. Activity was built around promoting the county, city and key investments, while keeping messaging coherent across partners and sessions. Filming, photography and onsite social media content ensured that the impact of UKREiiF did not end in the conference hall, giving Staffordshire a bank of assets to use in ongoing digital and stakeholder communications.  

UKREiiF is a highly competitive arena, with hundreds of places, organisations and partnerships vying for investor and media attention. Staffordshire needed a clear, differentiated story that would resonate nationally while still reflecting local priorities and real opportunities on the ground. The brief required promoting the county, city and key investments in a way that felt joined‑up and compelling, rather than fragmented.  

At the same time, the delegation needed to maximise limited time and budget at a busy three‑day event. With more than 150 media partners and packed schedules, securing the right interviews, thought leadership opportunities and content moments required careful planning and on‑the‑day agility. Pearl Comms had to ensure that every interaction – from stand presence to fringe events, roundtables and informal meetings – contributed to a coherent narrative and yielded tangible coverage or reusable digital content.  

A tailored PR and communications plan covered pre‑, during and post‑event activity. This included hit lists for priority outlets such as Property Week, Estates Gazette, Construction News, Local Government Chronicle and The Municipal Journal, plus national correspondents where relevant. Tactics ranged from briefing documents, media kits and thought leadership development, to fixing meetings, securing media lounge visibility and leveraging partners’ channels. Alongside this, Pearl Comms planned and delivered on‑site content capture – filming interviews, sessions and stand activity, and creating video clips and social posts to be used during and after UKREiiF on owned channels. 

The campaign delivered 18 pieces of coverage with an average domain authority of 50 and an estimated reach of 700 million, significantly raising Staffordshire’s profile around UKREiiF. Outcomes included BBC interviews and coverage, a completed Property Week interview, active engagement with Estates Gazette and further opportunities with Local Government Chronicle and Building. 

Pearl Comms also helped broker and hand over a Keele University media visit with a senior Estates Gazette reporter, extending the narrative beyond the conference. Filming and photography at the event provided Staffordshire with a suite of video and social content to use in ongoing communications, ensuring UKREiiF continued to work hard for the county’s brand and investment story long after the conference closed. The work reflects Pearl Comms’ wider experience delivering stakeholder engagement and media programmes for public and private sector organisations at national, regional and hyperlocal levels.