Easons celebrated the company’s 125th birthday in 2011, and it set a goal to build a communications strategy, with the support of PR agency WHPR, focused on resurfacing the warmth and nostalgia felt by consumers towards the brand, while creating a sense of excitement around Easons’ future plans. The 125 platform was to be used to magnify the ‘whatever you’re into’ masterbrand campaign, and create multiple reasons to visit an Eason store. It encompassed a heavyweight media relations strand to generate mass awareness, and included the ‘Top 10 Eason moments’ which lent a strong hook to approach media. The PR campaign achieved very significant media coverage and large scale engagement with consumers.

Fáilte Ireland implemented a 12-month consumer PR campaign through 2011 with the goal of keeping ‘the fun starts here’ theme relevant in a depressed market and with reduced budgets. The market needed to be convinced that disposable income available for holidays should be spent at home rather than abroad, and that the home market represented value for money. The PR strategy was designed to work across a variety of media platforms, and the extensive range of activity was underpinned by a media outreach programme and a 24/7 press office. This all drove growth in bednight sales to the target market, despite a considerable contraction in overall holiday spend, resulting in share gain for local versus foreign

In 2011, Ireland was represented at the Special Olympics in Athens by 126 athletes and 49 coaches. The marketing challenge was to engage with the media to get maximum coverage of the preparations, the games themselves and the celebrations afterwards. A strategic PR plan was put into action from the start of the year and the first focus was the launch in March. Well-known celebrities were recruited to lend support, and several high profile television appearances were secured. Both national and regional media were targeted and engaged and several major media figures travelled to Athens to report on the games. On return to Dublin, the athletes were welcomed by thousands of appreciative fans.

SuperValu’s challenge in the last year was to differentiate itself from rival brands by highlighting its support for Irish suppliers. Assisted by colleagues at Edelman, the marketing team sought to use PR to drive the message that SuperValu is committed to local growers and suppliers. The planning process created an ongoing series of activities, enabling SuperValu to consistently communicate its key messages. Using insights from the Edelman Trust Barometer, the strategy set out to underline how the SuperValu strategy aligns with society’s interests, and multiple strands of activity were created. The result of the campaign was a major increase in PR coverage versus the previous year, and market share was maintained.