Staying ahead of the competition
Hiring a Public Relations (PR) and Marketing firm is vital for businesses aiming to grow, build credibility, and maintain a competitive edge, writes Donna Ahern
Print29 May 2025
These firms bring specialised expertise in crafting compelling brand narratives, managing media relationships, and executing strategic campaigns that resonate with target audiences. Their deep understanding of market trends and consumer behaviour allows them to position a brand effectively and differentiate it from competitors.
A well-executed PR strategy enhances a company’s reputation and builds trust with stakeholders. In times of crisis, PR professionals are essential for managing communications, mitigating damage, and restoring public confidence. Marketing experts, on the other hand, develop data-driven campaigns that increase visibility, drive sales, and boost return on investment through digital platforms, content creation, SEO, and social media management.
Speaking with ShelfLife, Paul Hand, president, Public Relations Institute of Ireland (PRII), said: “The public relations sector in Ireland has proud and deep roots, and PR and communications practitioners have been at the forefront of developing and safeguarding the nation’s leading brands through the decades,”
“The Public Relations Institute of Ireland is implementing its recently launched five-year strategic plan, designed to support sector growth and deepen recognition of the value and contribution of the communications sector. Amid sharp national and global challenges posed to many brands in 2025, PR and communications practitioners have an indispensable role to play as problem-solvers for the clients and organisations we serve.”
Outsourcing to a PR & Marketing firm also saves time and resources, allowing internal teams to focus on core business functions. These firms often have access to networks and tools that in-house teams may lack, ensuring more efficient and impactful results. Ultimately, investing in PR and Marketing services helps businesses not only survive but thrive in an increasingly crowded and fast-paced market. It’s a strategic move that supports long-term growth, brand loyalty, and sustained public engagement.
Hunter Media Group
Sarah Costello
Q&A with Sarah Costello, group director, Hunter Media Group
Q: What sets Hunter Media Group apart from other PR firms in terms of strategy, results, or industry specialisation?
A: Hunter Media Group offers an integrated, full-service approach that combines the strengths of Hunter Communications, The Collaborations Agency, and Social Content HQ. This allows us to move beyond siloed PR, instead delivering seamless campaigns that blend media relations, influencer marketing, and social-first content creation under one roof. What sets us apart is our ability to strategically connect creativity with commercial results—we don’t just generate buzz, we build brand equity. Our team brings deep category experience across lifestyle, food and beverage, fashion and wellness, making us agile and effective across multiple sectors.
Q: Can you share specific examples or case studies of successful campaigns you’ve executed, and what measurable impact
they had?
A: One recent standout campaign the team executed was our work with Sky and NOW to support the launch of The White Lotus Series 3, streaming weekly on the NOW Entertainment Membership. Our brief was to complement the wider ATL campaign with digital activity that positioned the premiere as an unmissable cultural moment—and maintained consistent in-season momentum.
We created a two-phase strategy:
(1) Driving excitement around the launch through an innovative creator-led activation tapping into the themes of the new series.
(2) Sustaining talkability throughout the
season by carefully selecting creators who could authentically unpack the show’s themes, characters, and key plot twists—sparking ongoing, organic engagement across social media.
This strategic layering of hype and depth kept The White Lotus front-and-centre in online conversations. The campaign resulted in above-benchmark engagement, strong audience alignment across lifestyle and pop culture avenues, and contributed to a significant uplift in brand mentions and series buzz during the season window.
Q: How do you tailor your PR approach to different industries or business sizes, especially start-ups or growing brands?
A: We take a bespoke approach with every client—whether they’re an early-stage start-up or an established international brand. For smaller or growing businesses, we focus on efficient, high-impact activity: earned media placement in key titles, strategic influencer activations, and cost-effective content creation that maximises return on investment. For larger brands, we offer layered campaigns with broader amplification and deeper storytelling. Regardless of size, our process always begins with a detailed discovery phase to align on goals, tone, audience, and budget—ensuring that our PR strategies are always relevant and results-focused.
Q: What channels and tactics do you use beyond traditional media outreach (e.g., influencer relations, digital PR, content strategy)?
A: Our strength lies in blending traditional PR with modern amplification tactics. In addition to media relations, we leverage:
- Influencer partnerships (both macro and micro)
- UGC creation and social-first content strategy
- Thought leadership, brand storytelling, and owned content strategy
- Event PR & Activations – Crafting meaningful, in-person brand experiences that spark emotional connections and build lasting brand affinity with the right audiences
- Paid amplification to extend the reach of earned and owned content
This multi-channel approach ensures brand messaging lands where audiences live – whether that’s online, on social, or in print.
Q: Crisis management is a critical component of effective public relations—can you walk us through your agency’s approach to handling high-pressure situations and maintaining brand reputation during a crisis?
A: At Hunter Media Group, crisis management begins long before a crisis hits. We work proactively with clients to identify potential risks, establish response protocols, and align internal communications teams. In a high-pressure moment, we prioritise speed, clarity, and control—delivering holding statements, guiding executive spokespeople, and managing stakeholder communication.
Our cross-functional structure allows us to address the crisis from all sides. We believe that transparent, well-timed communication is key to weathering reputational storms and often helps brands emerge stronger and more trusted.
FACT FILE
Established: 2024
Contact name: Sarah Costello
Phone: +353 (0)87 9239100
Email: sarah.costello@huntermediagroup.ie
Website: www.huntermediagroup.ie
Social media: Instagram: @hunter.media.group TikTok: @hunter.media.group Linkedin: @hunter-media-group
Client list: White Claw, Más+ by Messi, Kerrygold, Frank & Honest, Tayto, Hunky Dorys, Popchips, O’Donnells, Huel, VITHIT, Happy Pear, Caramico, Clean Cut, Donnybrook Fair, FREENOW, Russell & Bromley, Ballymore, NJO Jewellery, Sky and Now.
Q: In the past year, how has your company demonstrated your expertise in enabling FMCG brands to get their message across to their target audience?
A: Hunter Media Group (HMG) proudly marks its second year as a leading presence in the media and communications landscape. Since its establishment, HMG has seamlessly brought together the capabilities of Hunter Communications, The Collaborations Agency, and Social Content HQ into one unified brand, combining decades of experience to deliver an integrated suite of services spanning public relations, influencer marketing, and content creation.
We tailor our offerings to meet the unique needs and budgets of each client, providing both ongoing strategic support and project-based consultancy across a diverse range of sectors, including FMCG, fashion, beauty, sport, entertainment, and lifestyle. Our multi-channel approach ensures brand messaging is effectively delivered across all key platforms – digital, social, and print – reaching audiences in the spaces they frequent most.
From concept to execution, HMG offers end-to-end solutions designed to build impactful and enduring brand campaigns. Our one-stop-shop model has proven especially valuable for clients, streamlining communication, accelerating delivery, and ensuring campaigns run smoothly and cohesively from start to finish.
Aspire PR & Marketing
Ann-Marie Sheehan
FACT FILE
Established: 2006
Contact name: Ann-Marie Sheehan
Phone: +353 (0)87 2985569
Email: annmarie@aspire-pr.com
Social media: https://www.instagram.com/aspirepr1/
Client list: Dubco Ireland Credit Union, Bay Broadcasting (Radio Nova, Ireland’s Classic Hits Radio), Business & Finance (Spider Awards, Business & Finance Awards, ESG Awards, FS Awards, Sutherland Award, Diversity in Tech Awards), TechFoundHer, Lawlor’s of Naas Hotel, Irish Writers Centre, OFS Global Energy Solutions, Kola Digital.
Q: In the past year, how has your company demonstrated your expertise in enabling FMCG brands to get their message across to their target audience?
A: FMCG brands and service clients effectively reach and engage their target audiences. Working with leading names, Aspire has crafted tailored communications strategies that amplify brand presence across multiple channels. Whether through dynamic media relations, creative content campaigns, or strategic partnerships, Aspire’s deep understanding of audience behaviour and brand positioning has ensured that every message not only resonates but drives real engagement. Our campaigns have connected brands with loyal consumers, boosted brand awareness, and maintained strong media relationships critical to sustained visibility.
Our work with clients in the financial and membership sectors, has been equally impactful. By promoting key milestones such as award wins, innovative financing solutions, and community initiatives, Aspire has successfully positioned these brands as trusted leaders in their fields. Through targeted PR activity, award submissions, and thought leadership content, Aspire has enabled these organisations to achieve prestigious industry recognition while strengthening their reputations. The consistent delivery of high-quality, strategic communications reflects Aspire’s commitment to helping every client, across diverse industries, reach their audiences with clarity, creativity, and measurable success.
Elevator
Michael McCrory
FACT FILE
Established: 1995
Contact name: Michael McCrory
Phone: +44 7426555928
Email: michael@elevatorpromotions.com
Website: www.elevatorpromotions.com
Social media: https://www.instagram.com/elevator_pm/
Client list: AG Barr, BOOST, United Wines, GM Marketing, Favourit Herbs and Spices, Elephant Rock Hotel, Tayto (NI), Translink, Pizza Crew, Antrim Coast Half Marathon, Mallon’s Foods, Dale Farm, Freixenet, McGuigan Wines, Heineken, Hafner’s, Holiday World Show.
Q: In the past year, how has your company demonstrated your expertise in enabling FMCG brands to get their message across to their target audience?
A: Elevator is an all-Ireland agency which has helped FMCG businesses reach its customers and retainers for 30 years. Elevator is a boutique agency which allows us to make our client’s budgets go further and work harder.
We are a solutions-driven creative agency made up of like-minded individuals who share a passion for creating meaningful campaigns and activations. We deliver a wide range of services including on-pack promotions, social media management, experiential marketing and PR to some leading brands and businesses across NI, ROI and GB.
Most of our clients have been with us for a very long time. They know they can count on us to deliver on time and on budget. We don’t believe one size fits all. Every single brief is looked at individually and gets our time, energy, experience and expertise to devise a custom-built solution.
Every campaign and how it is rolled out for our clients, to their your customers and through their routes to market, is made to measure. We genuinely care about our clients’ brands and the campaigns we create for them. In fact, it’s not an overstatement to say we care about their brands like they are our own!
Jailbird Communications
Julie Blakeney
FACT FILE
Established: 2020
Contact name: Julie Blakeney
Phone: +353 (0)86 3420794
Email: julie@hellojailbird.com
Website: www.jailbird.ie
Social media: @hellojailbird Instagram, Jailbird Comms, LinkedIn
Client list: Bulmers, Budweiser, Corona, Teeling Whiskey, Lyons Tea, Pukka Tea, HelloFresh.
Q: In the past year, how has your company demonstrated your expertise in enabling FMCG brands to get their message across to their target audience?
A: At Jailbird Communications, we use our insights, expertise in the culture, and innate creativity to solve business problems and achieve our clients’ bottom-line goals.
Creativity and ‘sticky ideas’ are need central to all our work to be truly effective in the busy and ever-changing world of marketing and FMCG communications.
Consumers are faced with a deluge of information day in and day out. It’s only the ideas, content, and messages that stand out from the crowd that resonate and result in sales.
Our work not only focuses on the need for impactful, creative plans but also complements other areas such as paid media. In a world where the algorithm dictates who gets seen and heard, it’s critical for us to have a comprehensive knowledge of how digital spending can change and shape campaigns.
We work with both media and content creators to deliver earned and paid-for campaigns that we know will reach people in the most compelling way possible.
Morrow Communications
Nicola McClean
FACT FILE
Established: 1985
Contact name: Nicola McClean, company director
Phone: +44 (0)2890 393837
Email: n.mcclean@morrowcommunications.com
Website: www.morrowcommunications.com
Social media: @morrowcomms on Instagram and X,
@MorrowCommunications on Facebook and LinkedIn
Client list: We have in depth experience in the agri-food, retail and hospitality sectors, having worked with clients including Dale Farm, Pilgrim’s Europe (Moy Park), Trouw Nutrition, Flahavan’s, Asda, Barista Bar, Neill’s Flour and Greggs.
Q: In the past year, how has your company demonstrated your expertise in enabling FMCG brands to get their message across to their target audience?
A: With a team of 35 talented professionals, across PR, social media, graphic design, branding, video production and events, we thrive on combining creative ideas with expertise to deliver outstanding results for our clients.
This year is a very special one for us, as we celebrate 40 years of success by pushing the boundaries of what creative communications can do for our clients.
In the past year, and in fact, for the past four decades, our focus for FMCG brands has been on maximising opportunities and overcoming challenges.
We’re passionate about retail and business, with a keen eye for commerciality. We act as our clients trusted advisors – their eyes and ears on the ground, helping them win hearts and minds, creating awareness, building loyalty and ultimately driving sales.
We work as an extension of our clients’ teams, helping to identify and seize PR opportunities to ensure the media spotlight is always on. Our account teams play a dual role, thinking like customers, while acting as colleagues to our clients. In short, our role embraces everything – from profiling products, handling crisis, to managing corporate relations and consumer/digital/social campaigns.
Retail customers may be notoriously fickle and shopping trends continue to change, but we work hard to give the brands we represent a strong and trusted identity with the audiences they want to reach.
Our reputation for building trust is well recognised amongst clients and the industry alike, with some fantastic awards under our belt, including CIPR ‘Consultancy Team of the Year’ five times in the last ten years.
Thinkhouse
Jane McDaid
FACT FILE
Established: 2001
Contact name: Jane McDaid
Phone: +353 (0)1 420 0070
Email: hello@thinkhousehq.com
Website: www.thinkhousehq.com
Social media: https://www.instagram.com/thinkhouse/
Client list: Heineken Ireland, Barry’s Tea, Keelings, Irish Distillers, Unilever, Musgrave, innocent, Bord Bia and more.
Q: In the past year, how has your company demonstrated your expertise in enabling FMCG brands to get their message across to their target audience?
A: THINKHOUSE grows brands – over two decades we’ve partnered with major brands to navigate the changing media and cultural landscapes with insight-first FAME campaigns that drive revenue, grow trust and build powerful brands. THINKHOUSE’s digital-first creative communications services includes through the line strategy, planning and creative communications services. The Youth Lab is THINKHOUSE’s insights department. The Youth Lab informs clients on emerging food & drink culture influencing how food & drink brands innovate, recruit new audiences into their brand and remain relevant.
Presence Plus
FACT FILE
Established: 2003
Contact name: Joanne Byrne
Phone: +353 (0)87 2494668
Email: joannebyrne@presence.ie
Website: www.presenceplus.ie
Social media: @presenceplus – instagram/tiktok
Client list: Ah wines, Black Tower, Bend in the River, Currys, Chopped, Decathlon, Dublin Horse Show, Emerald Park, Flogas, Flyefit, Green Isle, The G, Ideal Home Show, Jervis, Lindt, Leonardo Hotels, The Morrison, NYX, New Dimensions Active, ODEON, The Skin Diary, The Unicorn.
Q: In the past year, how has your company demonstrated your expertise in enabling FMCG brands to get their message across to their target audience?
A: We worked with Amy Huberman and the team at Ah wines for the launch of her brand through sampling and gifting, handling a launch event and looking for opportunities to highlight the brand. We secured two print covers for Amy with VIP and Sunday Independent where she was able to talk about her new venture as well as talking to Dave Moore on Today FM and recording a piece of social content.
Masonry PR
Kathryn Mason
FACT FILE
Established: 2003
Contact name: Kathryn Mason
Phone: +353 (0)87 2627977
Email: km@masonry.ie
Website: www.masonry.ie
Social media: @masonry_pr
Client list: RTÉ Press Office, The Powerscourt Distillery
MCD Productions, Gaiety Theatre, IMRO Radio Awards, Connick Ski.
Q: In the past year, how has your company demonstrated your expertise in enabling FMCG brands to get their message across to their target audience?
A: Forget the fluff. In the past year, we’ve been laser-focused on getting FMCG messages heard by the right people. Looking at our clients work www.masonry.ie, you’ll see we cut through the noise with smart media relations and engaging social content. We don’t just talk; we make sure your brand story lands where it counts, driving visibility and connection with your target consumers. It’s about clear communication and getting results, plain and simple.
Walsh PR
Maeve Governey
FACT FILE
Established: 1984
Contact name: Maeve Governey
Phone: +353 (0)86 8057884
Email: maeve@walshpr.ie
Website: www.walshpr.ie
Social media: @walshpr
Client list: Food related: Flahavan’s, Tirlán, Golden Bake, Boyne Valley, Linwoods, GIY and An Taisce.
Q: In the past year, how has your company demonstrated your expertise in enabling FMCG brands to get their message across to their target audience?
A: This past year, we have helped FMCG brands effectively connect with their audiences through a strategic mix of influencer partnerships, social media activation, and brand collaborations. We’ve invested in influencer engagement through tailored partnerships and events, bringing clients’ brands to life in ways that feel authentic and resonate with diverse audiences. While there may be broader discussions around influencer authenticity, these individuals are followed for a reason—because they connect.
Our approach ensures that even within a broad product portfolio, such as Avonmore’s range of milks or Flahavan’s range of Oat products, we align the right influencer to the right audience, allowing for natural, relevant engagement. This nuanced matching process is where our expertise comes to the fore.
We’ve adapted strategies to meet evolving behaviours of value-driven consumers. With fewer shoppers committing to a single retailer, we’ve leaned into social platforms to inform consumers where promotions are happening, meeting them where they are with timely, relevant content.
Social allows us to deepen brand affinity by sharing behind-the-scenes content and evoking nostalgia—especially effective for the beloved, long-standing family brands we support. By rolling out smart brand collaborations, we’ve helped clients cross-pollinate audiences and stretch precious marketing budgets further.
There’s nothing quite like getting product samples into consumers hands. We are constantly on the lookout for opportunities to activate client products in person, tapping into cultural and lifestyle trends like run clubs for health-conscious brands. These real-world interactions help foster trial and advocacy in a way that’s immediate
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