Every brand in Ireland wants to be on the news. Very few have news to share.
So we borrow it. When Taylor Swift, Oasis or Billie Eilish take over the country’s attention, we find the angle only our client can own and put them in the middle of the story. It has put a museum on RTÉ’s Six O’Clock News, in the Irish Examiner and on TikTok feeds across Ireland, and won a Grand Prix along the way.
We call it borrowing the spotlight. Below are four of our favourite digital PR examples, how they work, who we do them with, and how your brand can do it next.
- Taylor Swift: 230+ pieces of coverage, 13 million people reached and 43% more ticket sales for EPIC
- Oasis: 3 million people reached and €108,000 in advertising value in one week
- Fairytale of New York: 9.1 million people reached by PR, and website visits at seven times EPIC’s monthly average
- Awards: Spider Awards Grand Prix, two European Search Awards and a Global Search Award
When should your brand join a cultural moment?
When a big tour, a film or a Christmas classic has the whole country talking, it’s tempting to jump in. Most brands that do just add noise. Before you take part, your angle needs to pass three tests:
- A genuine connection. There has to be a real link between your brand and the moment, one people get straight away.
- A genuine reason to be there. You need something to add to the conversation, not just a logo next to someone else’s headline.
- Both sides benefit. Fans and customers get something worth having, whether that’s a story, an experience or an offer, and your brand gets attention that turns into visits and sales.
EPIC passes all three every time, which is why it’s one of the strongest examples we know. Its link is Irish heritage, and Ireland’s diaspora includes some of the biggest stars in the world. Your brand won’t have the same link, but with the right thinking you can find an angle that’s just as genuine.
Great partnerships make great moments
None of this happens alone. Our best work comes from teams that trust each other: a client who knows their story, a creative agency with the big idea, and us turning it into coverage, clicks and sales.
With EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum, that means EPIC’s genealogists at the Irish Family History Centre finding the stories, The Public House shaping the creative, and Vroom running PR, paid social and search. Each team does what it does best, and the results speak for all of us.
Taylor Swift: the love story before ‘Love Story’
Every outlet in Ireland was writing about the Eras Tour in June 2024. Only one partner could tell readers that Taylor Swift’s ancestors left Derry in 1836. EPIC’s genealogists found the story, and we turned it into a national and international PR campaign backed by paid social and search. More than 230 pieces of coverage followed, and EPIC’s June ticket sales rose 43%. Read the case study.
And the story keeps paying off. When Taylor Swift announced her engagement to Travis Kelce in August 2025, EPIC had its “Derry Girl” post up the next day:
EPIC: Derry Girl Taylor Swift engaged to Travis Kelce
Oasis: Definitely Irish
When Oasis played Croke Park in August 2025, pubs and shops across Dublin hung the Gallagher brothers in their windows. EPIC gave fans something to actually do: Definitely Irish, a week of tours exploring the family’s roots in Mayo and Meath. We pitched it, and it landed on RTÉ, Virgin Media News, Newstalk, The Pat Kenny Show, Today FM and the Irish Examiner. In one week, it reached more than 3 million people.
Lovin Dublin picked it up for its TikTok audience too:
Lovin Dublin on EPIC’s Definitely Irish Oasis tour
Billie Eilish: speed beats budget
Billie Eilish’s 3Arena shows in July 2025 gave EPIC another opening: her family roots in West Cork, plus 20% off for anyone with a concert ticket. The Public House had created the asset months earlier. We spotted the moment, put media behind it within days, and it became one of EPIC’s best-performing ads of the summer. That’s what a good partnership looks like: nothing wasted, and fast when it counts.
Fairytale of New York: owning Christmas
Every December, Ireland sings along to “Fairytale of New York”. EPIC brought the song’s famous NYPD choir to life with retired officers singing “Galway Bay”. We ran the PR for the 2023 launch, which reached 9.1 million people. For Christmas 2024, our paid social campaign drove website visits to seven times EPIC’s monthly average and won a European Search Award. Read the case study.
PR starts it. Paid and search finish it.
Coverage gets people talking. What sets us apart is what happens next, because we also run the paid social and search that turn that attention into visits and bookings.
Spark Ads and partnership ads
When a creator or publisher posts about your brand, their post often works harder than anything you could make yourself. On TikTok, Spark Ads let us put paid spend behind that post, under their name, in front of the audience we choose. During the Taylor Swift campaign, we did exactly that with a video from Irish singer Allie Sherlock. Meta’s partnership ads do the same on Instagram and Facebook.
Search
Every big gig creates a rush of searches, from things to do in Dublin that weekend to the star’s Irish roots. We make sure our clients show up for them, with ads on the right terms and pages built to rank. It’s why EPIC’s campaigns won search awards, not just PR awards.
AI answers
National coverage is also what gets a brand named in ChatGPT and Google’s AI answers. Every headline we land keeps working long after the moment has passed.
Got a big moment coming up? We’ll help you find the angle only your brand can own.
How we borrow the spotlight
Every campaign above follows the same four steps, and none of them need you to be a museum.
1. Find the link only you can own
EPIC’s link is always Irish heritage. For a hotel it might be the band that stayed there; for a restaurant, the dish a star loves. If a journalist has to ask “what’s that got to do with you?”, it isn’t strong enough.
2. Move before everyone else
Journalists write their previews days before the gig or the release. We plan the calendar months ahead with our clients, so the story is ready when they start looking.
3. Give people something to do
A tour, a ticket offer, a product, a reason to visit. Coverage is great; a reason to book or buy is what turns it into revenue.
4. Turn the volume up
PR makes it news. Paid social puts it in front of fans. Search catches everyone who goes looking afterwards. Running all three together is what turned EPIC’s headlines into ticket sales.
Your next moment is already in the calendar
The summer concert season, Christmas, Eurovision and the next big tour announcement. Every one will have the country talking, and every one has an angle for a hotel, a retailer, a restaurant or a consumer brand.
The brands that win them start planning now. See more of our work with EPIC and what we do as a PR agency in Dublin, or get in touch and we’ll map out your next moment together.
FAQs: celebrity and cultural moment PR
What is newsjacking?
Newsjacking means adding your brand to a story the public is already following, such as a major concert, a celebrity moment or a film release, with an angle that’s genuinely yours.
Does celebrity PR only work for big brands?
No. The Billie Eilish campaign was a story, a ticket offer and a few days of well-timed media. The link and the timing matter far more than the budget.
Do we need a famous connection to make this work?
You need a genuine one, not a famous one. EPIC’s link is Irish heritage. A hotel might have hosted the band, a restaurant might serve the star’s favourite dish, a retailer might stock what fans want. If the link needs a long explanation, it isn’t strong enough.
How far ahead should we plan?
Tours, film releases and big events are announced months ahead. Map the ones your customers care about, then have your story, images and spokesperson ready at least a week before, when journalists write their previews.
Can you work alongside our creative agency?
Yes, and we prefer it. On EPIC we work hand in hand with The Public House: they lead the creative, we lead PR, paid social and search.
How do you measure success?
Coverage and reach, but mostly the business result: visits, bookings and sales against the same period last year. For EPIC’s Taylor Swift campaign, that was 43% more ticket sales.