Skyeskyns

Back in 2019, Skyeskyns asked us to help them to promote their next step towards a neutral carbon footprint – the introduction of skins tanned using mimosa bark.

The Skyeskyns business ethos is focused on the principles of nature conservation and sustainable community development and land use.

Lambskins have always been a by-product of farming in Britain, where there are the highest standards of animal welfare.  Skyeskyns works closely with suppliers to ensure that all lambskins are ethically sourced from local abattoirs, stopping them from being exported and putting money back into the local economy.

Therefore, as the next logical step in the process, Skyeskyns introduced the mimosa bark to tan all their sheepskins. An ancient, traditional hand crafted and natural process, mimosa tanning travels into the past to take the business forward into an even more sustainable future.

This story is an extremely positive one for Skye, for the Scottish crofting industry, for sustainability and for Skyeskyns themselves, and we wanted to communicate all of this for them, using the best possible channels.

Scene & Herd developed a PR plan which had traditional media relations as a key strand, holding equal sway with social media promotion and influencer outreach, in addition to other direct marketing objectives.

We assisted with copywriting for point of sale materials, as well as for communications to suppliers and stakeholders connected to the business, ensuring that all those companies and individuals who work with, or have bought from, Skyeskyns were well informed about the exciting news.

We then prepared and issued a press release which was sent to all relevant media contacts.

Key bloggers and influencers were identified and contacted, with focus placed on those keen on sustainable products, luxury lifestyles and Scottish heritage businesses or products.

We also sent targeted gifts to key bloggers, Instagram influencers and magazine editors as a way of encouraging them to share the Skyeskyns news.

Within the timeframe of this campaign, we also entered Skyeskyns into the Scottish Land & Estates Helping It Happen Awards.

Our original news piece received excellent coverage in local/regional press (The Press & Journal), in The Scottish Farmer, The Scotsman and beyond.

We also produced an opinion piece, for the Friends of The Scotsman pages – an 800- word piece outlining why sustainability is so important for businesses like Skyeskyns.

A beautiful Skyeskyns sheepskin was featured in the inside front cover of The Scotsman Saturday magazine, as well as in the Meet the Maker feature within Homes & Interiors Scotland magazine.

One exciting piece of exposure, and the holy grail for a huge number of rural businesses, was an appearance on the BBC’s Landward programme.

Our bloggers and influencers outreach was particularly successful, with a number of blogs and accounts embracing the chance to work alongside us e.g. The Great Scottish Indoors, @homeontheloch, @home_stead, @house_on_tweed_avenue, @ballintaggart and more…. One of the influencers visited Skyeskyns in person and documented her visit on Instagram.

Whilst pipped at the post in the end, Skyeskyns did reach the final three in the SLE Helping it Happen Awards. A great achievement!