Real briefs. Real numbers. Real deadlines.
Two programmes we ran for Lion Creative, a UK promotional agency we work with directly — the real briefs, timelines and outcomes, nothing dressed up for effect.
A Christmas Activation, Repriced and Resourced in Two Weeks
For a prestige beauty client's seasonal retail activation, Lion Creative needed a branded 60mm Christmas bauble — and the activation date wasn't moving.
A branded bauble was needed for a Christmas retail activation, with both cost and lead time tight. We put together two sourcing routes on the same day: a Far East option with embossing, ready end of August, and a UK route with no embossing, ready the following week if approved immediately.
End of August was too late for the activation, so despite the higher unit cost, we moved to the UK route and had a physical sample ready to drop off that Friday — inside a week of the first conversation.
The brief evolved through sign-off — a gold topper and ribbon shifted to a black satin ribbon with logo printed on both sides — confirmed and costed without slipping the production date.
Costs confirmed for both formats the same day as the final ask, with visuals delivered alongside them — and stock landed inside the activation window.
Nine Product Lines, Costed in a Single Turnaround
A follow-on request landed separately from an existing water bottle and bamboo chopping board order — nine additional lines, needed "asap," with an explicit bar: good enough quality that the end brand wouldn't reject them.
| Item | Volume |
|---|---|
| Premium water bottle | 300 units |
| Hessian bags | 300 units |
| A5 notebooks with pen slot | 500 units |
| Branded pens | 1,000 units |
| Bread bags | 200 units |
| Travel mugs | 200 units |
| Oven gloves | 100 units |
| Tea towels | 200 units |
| Tote bags | 8,000 units |
| Aprons | 30 units |
One point of contact costed drinkware, bags, stationery and textiles together, so the client took a single clean set of numbers into their own sign-off — instead of chasing four separate suppliers on four separate timelines.
Got a brief with a hard deadline?
Tell us what it needs to do and by when — we'll come back with options, not excuses.