Woman reading on a sofa beneath Custtom Felt Art wall panels

Custtom Digital PR Case Study: Coverage in Ideal Home, Homes & Gardens and Country Living

Custtom had built a loyal customer base selling personalised photo prints, but canvas prints rarely make the news on their own. Growing the brand’s profile meant finding stories journalists actually wanted to write.

Custtom (formerly HelloCanvas) is a UK personalised photo gifting and wall art brand, with over five million canvases sold.

Industry

Retail

Services

Digital PR

The Challenge

Getting a product brand into the news

Journalists rarely write about canvas prints, so pitching the product alone was only ever going to go so far. Custtom needed stories that could earn a place in lifestyle, homes and national coverage while still linking back to what the brand sells.

The brand also changed its name from HelloCanvas to Custtom in early 2024, so the PR had to carry on through the rebrand and build recognition for the new name.

pieces of coverage

different publications

%

growth in referring domains

Our Approach

Stories about photos, not products

We built campaigns around what people do with their photos, from decorating and gifting to weddings, pets and family life, and paired them with expert commentary journalists could use straight away.

Expert-led Content

Commentary from Custtom’s print expert, family photographers and a psychotherapist drove most of our coverage.

Reactive Campaigns

We tied the brand to seasonal news moments like spider season and summer heatwaves, earning coverage in stories it would never normally appear in.

Journalist Requests

Daily monitoring of journalist requests meant we could respond quickly with expert comment and product suggestions.

Gift Guide Placement

We secured Custtom products in gift guides for Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day.

Product Sampling

We sent products to journalists and bloggers so they could feature them first hand.

Seasonal Campaigns

We planned content around the moments people print photos most, including weddings, summer holidays and back to school.

Let's Work Together

Gareth Hoyle

Managing Director

The Results

Coverage that grew year after year

We’ve secured 121 pieces of online and print coverage across 98 publications, including The Sun, Daily Mail, Mirror, Express, HuffPost, Hello, Country Living, Stylist, Ideal Home and Homes & Gardens. 2026 brought in 76 pieces, more than double the year before, and referring domains grew 147% year on year.

Pairing seasonal moments with expert comment worked best. Our 2026 spider season campaign alone landed 23 pieces of coverage, including The Sun, Express and Ideal Home, and the site now ranks on page one for competitive terms like “canvas prints” and “picture frames”.