Dromod Boxty: How Brand Storytelling Turned a 35th Anniversary Into National Press

The smell of boxty on the pan. Cousins chatting in a warm kitchen. The first bite of Mam’s stew after a wet walk home. For a lot of Irish people, these aren’t just memories. They’re feelings you can taste.

In 2025, Dromod Boxty, a family food business from Co Leitrim, turned 35. Thirty-five years in business isn’t a story a journalist will run. That feeling is. So in a short brand storytelling campaign, we didn’t announce an anniversary. We told the story of why food takes us home, with Dromod at the heart of it.

At a glance

• Client: Dromod Boxty, a second-generation family food business in Dromod, Co Leitrim
• Occasion: 35 years in business, July 2025
• Service: PR campaign: story development, press release, expert spokesperson, media kit, and national and regional pitching
• Campaign: short and focused, built around one story
• Results: 10 pieces of coverage, 1 million+ people reached, €33,600 in advertising value

The challenge: an anniversary isn’t news

Every business has milestones, and almost every business announces them the same way: a press release with the number of years, a thank you to customers and a list of products. Journalists get dozens of these a week. Very few make it into print.

Dromod didn’t want a standard anniversary announcement. They wanted people to feel something. And they wanted the rest of the country to discover a food that’s loved in the northwest but still a stranger in many Irish kitchens.

Finding the story: from “35 years” to “nose-talgia”

The story was already there. Dromod’s customers had been telling it for years. As Managing Director Áine Faughnan, the founder’s daughter, put it:

“Our customers often tell us our boxty tastes just like what their granny made. But more than that, they say things like, ‘This reminds me of Sunday breakfast before a match’ or ‘We always had this after school.'”

That was the insight: food holds memories, and smell unlocks them. To turn a lovely idea into news, we brought in an expert. Dr Ian Kearney, Chartered Clinical Psychologist and Clinical Director of The Atlas Clinic, explained why smell is the sense most closely tied to memory and emotion: it connects directly to the brain’s limbic system.

Now the story had the three things journalists look for: a feeling everyone recognises, science that explains it, and a real family business at its centre.

How we told it: the scene first, the science second

The press release, “Why nostalgia is our most powerful food memory”, didn’t open with the anniversary. It opened in the kitchen: frying onions, the clink of teacups, a warm room on a cold day. Only then did it bring in the science, and only after that, the brand.

One story became several angles, each pitched to the journalist it suited:

• The science of “nose-talgia”, for national news and features
• A family business, 35 years on, from the founder’s mother’s recipe to a national brand, for regional and business media
• Irish food heritage, for food and lifestyle titles
• A taste of home, for Irish readers abroad

Every pitch came with what a journalist needs to say yes quickly: warm lifestyle photography, a heritage timeline, quotes from Áine and Dr Kearney, and a recipe. A limited-time anniversary offer gave readers something to do once they’d read the story.

Where the story landed

• Irish Daily Mirror and Irish Daily Star, in print: “Whiffs of food can generate real nose-talgia”, plus a boxty recipe in the Star
• Irish Country Magazine: Why nostalgia is our most powerful food memory
• Leitrim Observer, online and in print: Why Dromod Boxty still tastes like home, 35 years on
• Independent.ie: a Leitrim family business celebrating 35 years
• IrishMirror.ie: how boxty became a beloved Irish dish all over the world

Irish Country Magazine told us they loved the “emotional pull” of the story.

Results

• 10 pieces of coverage in national and regional press, online and in print
• 1,023,287 people reached and €33,595 in advertising value equivalent
• The same story ran in national tabloids and a glossy lifestyle magazine, which is rare for a single press release

Since then, Dromod has kept building. The business won Gold at Blas na hÉireann 2025 for its Protein Pancakes, and the first-ever Family Business Award at the Small Firms Association National Small Business Awards in 2026.

The team at Vroom exceeded our expectations. They created a fantastic concept centred around nostalgia, which really resonated with us, perfectly captured the heart of our brand, and brought our story to life in a way we couldn’t have imagined. This campaign has given us an incredible platform to celebrate our milestone year.

Áine Faughnan – Managing Director, Dromod

How to find the story in your own brand

You don’t need a 35th anniversary to do this. Every business has a story worth telling. Most just tell the wrong one.

1. Lead with a feeling, not a fact. Years in business, turnover and product lists are facts. Nostalgia, pride, relief and belonging are feelings. Journalists and readers respond to feelings.

2. Listen to your customers. Dromod’s story came from what customers had been saying for years. Your reviews, emails and conversations are full of stories.

3. Borrow authority. A credible expert turns a nice story into news. A psychologist, historian, dietitian or local figure gives journalists a reason to run it.

4. One story, several angles. The same story worked as science, heritage, family business and a taste of home. Tailor the pitch to each journalist.

5. Set the scene. Give journalists photos, a timeline, quotes and a recipe or real example, so the story is easy to write.

6. A milestone is a hook, not the story. Use the anniversary, launch or opening as the reason for “why now”, then tell a bigger story around it.

What we would add today: authority and AI search

When this campaign ran, the goal was coverage and reach. Today we’d also plan for how the story keeps working online. Coverage on trusted Irish sites builds a brand’s authority, often measured as Domain Rating, which helps it rank in Google. And AI tools like Google’s AI Overviews and ChatGPT lean on trusted, widely published sources when they answer questions like “what is boxty” or “best Irish family food brands”. Optimising for those answers is often called AEO or GEO.

If we ran this campaign today, we would also:

• Ask for a link to the brand’s website in every piece of online coverage
• Keep the brand’s key facts (family-run, founded 1990, Dromod, Co Leitrim) worded the same way in every press release, so AI tools repeat them accurately
• Track which coverage is cited in AI answers, alongside reach and advertising value

Have a story nobody has noticed yet?

A milestone, a launch, a family history or something your customers keep saying: most businesses are sitting on a story. If you want help finding yours and getting it into the press, talk to our PR team in Dublin.