Your browser is no longer supported. Please upgrade your browser to improve your experience.

Ideas take flight…

From the seeds of a vision to sparking a national movement – we shape, deliver and grow campaigns that take on a life of their own. Like Pitch Up! – which is helping build a more sustainable, resilient, diverse and flexible food and farming system.

Pitch Up! is a farmer-led movement connecting sustainable businesses needing land or space with forward-thinking farms across the UK.

From concept to delivery, we’ve led its strategy, activation and growth from a single-location campaign to a growing national initiative of 12 farms (and counting) from Cornwall to Scotland.

 

Why, what, and for who?

Client Kingsclere Estates in Hampshire approached us to help bring to life managing director Tim May’s vision for a ‘circular community’ on his farm. He wanted to attract like-minded farmers, food and drink producers, and sustainable enterprises to work together and make the most of shared resources, raw ingredients, waste, and by-products.

We conceived the idea of Pitch Up!, and have managed it end-to-end since launching the first campaign in 2021, including initial concept development; activation strategy and delivery; and owned, earned and paid media support – plus shaping the continuing growth of the movement year on year.

The challenge

Kingsclere Estates had a bold ambition and needed a clear, engaging way to express that vision – one that would inspire the right businesses to get involved and make it easy for others to understand what a circular community could look like in practice. Our challenge was twofold:

  1. Translate Kingsclere’s ambition into a unifying idea and narrative that people could instantly grasp.
  2. Deliver it in a way that would reach and resonate with the right audiences, both locally and in the wider sustainable food and farming sector.

Crystalising the message

We began by unpacking Kingsclere’s vision – getting to the heart of what a ‘circular community’ meant for the estate, who it could benefit, and how it could work in practice.

We conceived Pitch Up! as the unifying idea: a named, branded and time-bound campaign with a clear focus and strong call to action.

 

Bringing it to life

We then designed the first ‘applications season’ – a one-month annual window in November for businesses to pitch their ideas.

Our delivery included:

  • Campaign concept, strategy, identity and messaging
  • Full management of the campaign
  • Creating campaign assets, website copy, application guidelines, press releases and multimedia ‘owned’ content – including commissioning website development, photography and film
  • Social media strategy and content, including paid social
  • All comms, PR and media liaison

This approach gave Kingsclere a clear, focused, repeatable structure for inviting and selecting businesses, while establishing Pitch Up! as something distinct, memorable and shareable.

Spreading its wings

The best bit? Seeing this campaign really take off – and playing a key role in its expansion. Pitch Up! has become a growing national movement, with increasing impact year on year.

Working with a shoestring campaign budget in 2024-25, we generated:

  • Applications from 37 businesses
  • 40+ more farms wanting to join
  • Media coverage including BBC Radio 4, Financial Times, Waitrose Weekend, Positive News, and Wicked Leeks. Also currently in discussion with a primetime TV programme.
  • 1,000% growth in Instagram followers in two months
  • 60% email open rate
In a nutshell

Pitch Up! is transforming rural enterprise, enabling waste-free production loops and community-led climate action. The campaign demonstrates how we use strategic storytelling to unite stakeholders, inspire change and scale impact – turning a local vision into a replicable national model.

But I’m not a farmer!

Pitch Up! is just one example – Stranger Collective has led campaigns across multiple sectors, for a diverse mix of clients and audiences.

Get in touch and we’ll be happy to tell your about our work on other campaigns, like:

  • Walk With Me and Happy Feet for Birkenstock – from a series of events, workshops, social content and a printed publication in London, to a record-breaking animated series evoking the core principles of the brand that was a smash hit with its huge and dedicated global audience, delivering game-changing engagement via endlessly shareable content.
  • Your Beach. Found for Beach Retreats clocked up a 74% boost to Beach Retreats’ website traffic and reach, over 31% increase in Instagram engagement and 12.5% uplift in bookings in their key booking months. The campaign received three shortlists at the 2025 Drum Awards Festival and won Best Content Campaign at the Content Marketing Association’s international awards show 2025.

 

Want to talk about what you’re looking for?

Sign up to our newsletter

Subscribe