Case studySocial media management, entertainment
Three years on one London venue
No Escape London is an immersive escape room venue, retained since 2023. This is the longest running account on the roster, and the case for it is not a viral number. It is that the client is still here.
★★★★★ 5.0 on Google from 10 reviews
See the monthly plans or tell us about the venue. We work with brands worldwide, and onboarding runs about five working days from the first brief to the first scheduled post.
The client
A niche venue, and why the numbers here are smaller
No Escape London sells immersive escape room experiences in London. It is owned by Darrell Johnston, who also owns Purgatory Bar, and both have been on retainer since 2023. The audience is narrower than a hotel booker or a cocktail crowd, and the figures on this page are correspondingly smaller. That is the point of publishing it.
- The job is visibility, not viralityPeople book an escape room when they are planning something: a birthday, a work night, a visiting friend. The content has to be present when that thought occurs, which is a consistency problem rather than a reach problem.
- Instagram and Facebook, both maintainedCreative direction, production, captions, scheduling and monthly reporting across the two. Facebook still carries real weight for a venue whose booker is often organising for a group.
- The copy has outperformed the reachCopy written for this account was picked up by Conde Nast and TimeOut. That is the client's press, achieved by the venue. We wrote the words; we do not claim the coverage.
- Three years is the deliverableAn agency is easy to keep for a quarter and hard to keep for three years. This account has had the same two people on it throughout.
Results
January to June 2026
All figures from Meta Business Suite for the stated window. Where a metric was flat we have left it flat rather than finding a percentage that flatters it.
| Platform | Metric | Value | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total views | 28,155 | not compared | |
| Three second views | 10,200 | up 154.4 per cent | |
| Watch time | 1 day 1 hour | up 113.8 per cent | |
| Interactions | 249 | not compared | |
| Views | 22,165 | not compared | |
| Reach | 5,600 | not compared | |
| Content interactions | 643 | up 3.9 per cent |
Instagram interactions moved 3.9 per cent, and that is on the page because it is true. A niche venue with a small audience does not double its engagement every quarter, and the two figures that did move, watch time and three second views, are the ones that matter for a venue selling an experience people need to see before they book. For the other end of the range see the Snaptrip Group case study and the reviews page.
Questions
Answers about long retainers
Because a portfolio of only viral results is not a portfolio, it is a highlight reel, and a prospect with a niche audience learns nothing from it. No Escape London is what steady work on a small audience looks like over three years, and most businesses are closer to this page than to the Purgatory one.
No, and the distinction matters. Copy we wrote for the venue was used in coverage in Conde Nast and TimeOut. The press is the client's achievement, secured by the venue. Our own press is a feature in Women's Health, and we do not blend the two because it would be trivially easy to check and embarrassing when someone did.
Creative direction, content production, caption writing, scheduling and monthly reporting across Instagram and Facebook, every month, without a relaunch. The work is unglamorous by design. An account that needs reinventing every quarter is an account that was never working.
Yes, on separate agreements. No Escape London and Purgatory Bar are run as two accounts with two audiences rather than one contract with a shared calendar. The Purgatory Bar case study covers the other one.
Retainers run monthly rather than on a locked term. A three year relationship that survived thirty six opportunities to end it is a stronger signal than a three year contract nobody could exit, which is the reason we do not sell one.
Why it works
The unglamorous case for consistency
Booking intent is occasional, so presence has to be constant
Nobody decides to book an escape room on a Tuesday afternoon because a post was clever. They decide because someone has a birthday in three weeks, and at that moment the venue either comes to mind or does not. Content for a business like this is a memory problem, and memory is built by frequency rather than by brilliance.
Watch time is the metric that matters for an experience
You cannot photograph an escape room in a way that explains it. Three second views up 154 per cent and watch time up 114 per cent say that more people are staying long enough to understand what the venue actually sells, which is a better leading indicator for this business than follower count.
What we would not claim
None of these figures is a booking, and no attribution model sits behind this page. We can tell you what the content did on the platform. What happened at the door is the venue's data.
The full roster is on the case studies index, the plans are on the social media management page, the filmed work is in the UGC portfolio, and everything else is in the shop.
Client reviews
What clients say, word for word
“Fantastic service. Been a client for 3 years now and have seen fantastic results, increased viewers, followers and viral videos. Copywriting was on point and has been used in magazines like Conde Nast, Timeout and more.”
Darrell Johnston, Owner, No Escape London and Purgatory Bar. Google review, 5.0.“Velena Lifestyle have been a breath of fresh air for our social media accounts. Their professionalism and knowledge have supported us massively.”
Sean Thompson, Head of Marketing, Snaptrip Group. Google review, 5.0.“I've known Velena for many years and she is a great content creator and reliable. I highly recommend her. Looking forward to hiring her again.”
Alex, Newmiuz. Google review, 5.0.Every review is reproduced word for word. Read them all on the reviews page.
Monthly plans
Social media management, done for you
Small Business Social Pack
£149 per month
12 static posts, 1 platform, content creation done for you
View Small Business Social Pack- Most chosen
Rolling monthly, 2 months notice, no setup fees. All plans on the social media management page.
Who you work with
One team, from the first brief to the last hand off
Velena Nikolova
Co-Founder and Creative Director
Velena leads the filming and the edit, so the idea and the execution never pass between strangers. A lifestyle creator with 13,000 Instagram followers, featured in Women's Health. More on the about page.
Dragos Nistor
Co-Founder and Business Strategist
Dragos runs the brief, the schedule and the delivery, and is on camera for couple and male led work. Named a LinkedIn Top Entrepreneurship Voice in 2024. More on the case studies.
Looking for an agency that stays?
Monthly management starts at £399 a month and runs month to month. Nothing is locked: the plan runs month to month and you approve the content calendar before anything is scheduled. Tell us about the venue and we will say which plan fits, including when the answer is the smallest one.
Prices are in pounds sterling and no VAT is added. If you are ordering from outside the UK your card issuer sets the exchange rate, and anything due in your own country is outside our invoice.