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EatClub Manchester Launch – Disruptive / Experiential

When EatClub came to Manchester, the brief wasn’t to quietly announce another food app and hope people downloaded it because a Meta ad told them to.

Manchester is not short of food, choice, noise, offers, launches, festivals, restaurants, street food, people shouting about “the best scran in town” or brands trying to muscle their way into the conversation.

So we did the sensible thing.

We crashed the party.

The Manchester Food Festival was already bringing hungry people into the city, which made it the perfect moment to introduce EatClub properly.

Not from a stand tucked politely in the corner, not through a beige “download the app” message, but with a branded food van, restaurant food, a street team and a launch plan built around getting into the busiest parts of Manchester whether the city was quite ready for us or not.

The Creative Idea

We built a guerrilla-style food van takeover around Manchester Food Festival.

Despite a few attempts to stop us joining the party, we did what any sensible disruptive agency would do.

We crashed it anyway.

The idea unfolded across three connected layers:

– A branded EatClub food van serving real food from local partner venues

– A city-moving activation hitting some of Manchester’s busiest locations

– A direct trial mechanic, giving locals food in exchange for downloading and using the app

It wasn’t passive awareness.

It was food-led acquisition.

Taste first. App second.

What EatClub Said

“For our EatClub Manchester launch, we trialled something a bit different and went all in on an immersive, high-energy, food-led approach, partnering with the incredible Lewis Ellis and his team at Hussel Media.

Safe to say, he truly lives up to the word hustle. The energy and passion he brings is contagious.

We ran a 2-day guerrilla-style food van takeover, offering EatClub restaurant food, partnering with 2 local EatClub venues, to locals in exchange for trialling the app.

The activation achieved high visibility, IRL engagement, a lot of fun and value exchange but most importantly, it didn’t just create buzz, it drove real trial and communicated to consumers and venues what EatClub is all about.”

Talina Cruz
Head of Brand & Comms, EatClub

Results

The campaign delivered exactly what a launch should deliver:

– Over 1,000 app installs in three days

– Real food served from two local EatClub venue partners

– Hundreds of face-to-face conversations with Manchester locals

– High visibility across some of the city’s busiest locations

– A guerrilla presence around Manchester Food Festival

– Clear communication of the EatClub proposition to both consumers and venues

– Real product trial, not just passive impressions

– A repeatable city launch model for future rollouts

And yes, we picked up a few parking tickets.

But when the goal is getting food into the hands of the people, sometimes the spreadsheet has to make room for a bit of chaos.

The campaign was built around a mobile food experience, QR-led conversion and a clear “Download EatClub” CTA, with the original model designed to put EatClub inside Manchester’s food rhythm rather than shouting over it.

Conclusion

This campaign proved what happens when a digital product steps out of the phone and into the real world.

EatClub didn’t just buy attention.

It earned trial.

By putting food in people’s hands, getting into the busiest parts of Manchester and turning a major food moment into a launch opportunity, the brand became instantly easier to understand.

A food app made physical.

A city launch made disruptive.

Over 1,000 installs in two days.

Not bad for a food van, two ad-vans, a crazy promotions team and a complete refusal to stand politely in the corner.

We have worked with Lewis for the last 6 months to help us create unique brand experiences that result in buzz and social content and ultimately visibility to drive a positive change in brand perception. Lewis is extremely innovative and understands how to turn a brand vision into a real life experience that is highly impactful. It’s not just about the experience itself - it’s the finer details that make his campaigns stand out. Each campaign has delivered extremely high reach and engagement. What has been most impressive is how authentic the ideas have been and close to the brand DNA
Rhiannon Scarlett

Chief Marketing Officer - TGI Fridays

"Lewis’ ability to create out of the box and engaging campaign ideas is a real superpower, especially in a world where simply throwing money at a paid ad is often mistaken for great marketing. Our recent Free Burger Booth activation allowed us to engage with new and existing guests, capture data, create incredible content and give people a new reason to talk about our brand. Having Hussel to call on to add a new dimension to a campaign is a tremendous gift! I trust that my brand is not only safe in the hands of Lewis and Hussel, but that whatever crazy idea they pitch will excite our audience, energise my marketing team and impress our stakeholders."
Holly Hatwell

Brand Manager - Revolution Bars

"Absolutely love working with Hussel. We have been working with Lewis and his team for a year now and he always goes above and beyond. He listens to what our priorities are, guides us to the best solution and adapts our plan with him to suit. His experience and knowledge is second to non and he always has our company’s best interest at heart. We feel like the Hussel team are an extension of our own and we are looking forward to the next chapter of working with them."
Katie Clay

Operations Director - Gamble FS

"It's been a blast working with Lewis and the Hussel Marketing team since the start of 2023. Lewis brings a new dimension, thought process and a level of Marketing expertise that we just don't have in our current business set -up. Lewis has become a welcome extension to our business. Lewis is full of energy & enthusiasm and is clearly passionate about his subject. If you can deal with the pace - I'd fully recommend having this marketing innovator on-board."
Nick Ratcliffe

Marketing Director - FASTSIGNS Manchester

Lewis came into the business with a completely fresh perspective and quickly challenged the way we were thinking about marketing. He didn’t just suggest ideas, he helped us rethink how we position HardHats, how we communicate our value, and how we consistently show up in front of the right people. Since working together, we’ve seen a clear increase in inbound leads, new customers coming through the door, and, just as importantly, far more people talking about HardHats within the industry. The brand feels more confident, more visible, and more credible as a result. Lewis brings energy, clarity, and a genuine understanding of how to turn marketing into something that actually drives growth. It’s made a real difference to the business.
Ashley Lewer

Owner / Founder - HardHats UK

"Lewis is my (not so) secret weapon for disruptive PR! We've worked on some brilliant brand activations this year with Revoluciòn de Cuba and I can't wait to carry on creating memorable moments, flipping the familiar into a fiesta. Our most recent activation in Birmingham Bullring was beautifully pulled together, the video has been a hit internally and i'm excited for the content to hit our digital channels for guests to see. Lewis is professional, enthusiastic, innovative and I feel confident that he can literally pull anything off we dare to dream up!"
Kate Hawkshaw

Brand Manager - Revolución de Cuba

"Hussel were exactly what we were looking for as a think outside of the box marketing agency. Brennan worked with Hussel to produce a video for use as an advert on our social media & YouTube channels. Lewis and his team were fantastic to work with & delivered exactly what we were looking for with the tone & presentation of the video. We've been so impressed with the first video they produced for us that we've decided to turn this into a series of adverts for our company. We're really happy to continue to work with Hussel and produce some compelling but fun content for our customers."
Baneet Grover

Marketing Manager - Brennan Industries

The Hussel team have recently built HM Staffing a new website and we are blown away by the site and the results it's delivering. From the start of the process to the end we had no issues and Lewis was always just a phone call away to help with any questions or changes. Massive thank you to the Hussel Team for building us a website that doesn't just look nice but also converts clients and represents our brand.
Harry Portch

Owner/Director - HM Staffing

Lewis and Hussel is not just another Marketing place. Working with Lewis developed and in time, he felt like family. His ideas are wild and unique and designed to engage and intrigue resulting in 100s of thousands of views if not millions. He ran a cancer awareness campaign for us and created an investor video ad in under a week. The results were stunning and a great showcase of his talent as an artist. I expect huge things for him and his company and expect this to be the start of his firm exploding!!
Jeff Stephens

Owner/Director - Infusion 51a

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