Case study: Six Years Behind UNICEF Ireland’s Emergency Appeals
Speed is everything in these campaigns, and our partnership with Vroom Digital will enable us to be quick off the mark and respond in real-time.
UNICEF Ireland
Award Winning
Type “the Irish are known for” into Google and, a few years ago, the suggestions were fighting, drinking, potatoes and holding grudges. EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum exists to tell a truer story of Irish identity, through the people who left and changed the world.
“This Is Not Us” is EPIC’s long-running campaign against Irish stereotypes, created with The Public House. Since 2022, Vroom has run the PR, paid search and paid social that took each chapter to audiences in Ireland and around the world, winning Gold at the Digital Media Awards along the way.
At a glance
- Client: EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum, Dublin
- Campaign: This Is Not Us, three chapters in 2022, 2023 and 2025
- Vroom’s role: PR, Google Ads (search, display, YouTube and Demand Gen) and paid social on Meta, X and TikTok. Creative by The Public House
- Results: almost 15 million reached through PR across three chapters, millions of video views, and big jumps in website traffic
- Awards: Gold, Digital Media Awards 2023; Silver, Spider Awards 2024; Silver, European Search Awards 2024
3
chapters
Each taking on a new source of Irish stereotypes
15
M
People reached by PR coverage across the three chapters
3
awards
Including Gold at the Digital Media Awards 2023
Chapter one, 2022: Paddy McFlaherty
EPIC took Google’s predictive search results about the Irish and asked: what would a person look like if they were all true? The answer was Paddy McFlaherty, a CGI character built from every stereotype. He was mobbed on Twitter, lambasted on Reddit, debated on radio and discussed over plenty of pints.
What we did: a full PR plan and media kit, with outreach to Irish and international media and the Irish abroad. On Google we ran display, Discover and YouTube to build awareness, which drove so much demand that we increased search activity to meet it. On social we ran Meta and Twitter (now X), adding Twitter once radio coverage started and the debate moved online.
- 4.98 million reached through PR, worth €109,000 in advertising value, with coverage from The Drum to LBB Online
- 82,000 website sessions from Google Ads, up 38% on the previous period
- 687,000 video plays on Meta, and a 10.11% click-through rate on Twitter
Chapter two, 2023: Paddy A.I.rishman
A year later, the stereotypes had moved into generative AI. Ask an AI image tool for an “Irish man” and you got flat caps, pints and leprechauns. EPIC called it out with Paddy A.I.rishman, showing how AI repeats the same old clichés and why seeing the real story at EPIC matters more than ever.
What we did: Google Demand Gen campaigns across Discover, Gmail and YouTube alongside search, video and traffic campaigns on Meta and X, and targeted PR to tech, national and regional media, radio and TV.
- 1.13 million video views on X, with more than 618,000 watched to the end
- Clicks to EPIC’s website up 22% from Google Ads, from 564,000 impressions
- 1.2 million reached through PR, with coverage in the Sunday World, Irish Daily Mirror, Sunday Independent, IrishCentral and LovinDublin, plus KFM, FM104 and Shannonside radio
Chapter three, 2025: Dear Erin
In 2025 the target was Hollywood. A trailer appeared for “Dear Erin”, a romantic comedy packed with every Irish cliché, starring Peter Coonan as Paddy. Then EPIC revealed the twist: the film was fake, made to show how lazily Irish people are still portrayed on screen.
What we did: a TikTok TopView takeover on reveal day, so the reveal was the first thing TikTok users saw when they opened the app that day, followed by video and traffic campaigns on TikTok, YouTube and Google Demand Gen, alongside PR.
- 1.38 million video views and 43,000+ clicks in a single day from the TikTok takeover
- 2.8 million video views on TikTok across the campaign
- 52,000+ YouTube views, with 37% watched to the very end
- 8.7 million reached through PR, worth €328,000+ in advertising value, with coverage in The Guardian and The Irish Times
Watch the three films
2022: Paddy McFlaherty
2023: Paddy A.I.rishman
2025: the Dear Erin teaser trailer
Watch the Dear Erin reveal on EPIC’s campaign page, and see the full campaign, with Vroom credited for PR, on Ads of the World.
The coverage
Across three chapters, PR for This Is Not Us reached almost 15 million people and earned more than €488,000 in advertising value.
2022: Paddy McFlaherty
- The Drum, PRWeek and LBB Online
- Business Post and a Séamas O’Reilly column in the Irish Examiner
- RTÉ Radio 1, The Ryan Tubridy Show, RTÉ 2FM, Today FM, Dermot & Dave and Newstalk, Breakfast Business
- Virgin Media’s Ireland AM, and shared by CNN’s Donie O’Sullivan
- The Irish Post, Lovin and AdWorld (Ad of the Week)
2023: Paddy A.I.rishman
- Sunday World, Sunday Independent, Irish Daily Mirror, Irish Daily Star and Irish Mail on Sunday
- IrishCentral, The Irish Post, Irish Star, Irish Tech News, Lovin Dublin and LADbible
- LBB Online, Marketing.ie and AdWorld
- FM104, Q102, Shannonside, Northern Sound and KFM
2025: Dear Erin
- The Guardian: the debate the trailer reignited about Hollywood’s Irish clichés
- The Irish Times: why the Irish love to hate “Oirish” films
- Creative Bloq: how the world fell for a fake trailer
- International coverage including RÚV in Iceland and Velev in Turkey
- Newstalk, FM104, Q102, iRadio and Midlands 103, plus the Irish Daily Mirror and Irish Daily Star in print
- LBB Online and Marketing.ie
See more coverage
- NITravelNews.com
- MarcommNews.com
- TheDrum.com
- LBBOnline.com
- Rob O’Hanrahan, Virgin Media News (X)
- Donie O’Sullivan, CNN (X)
- RTÉ Radio 1, The Ryan Tubridy Show
- carlowlive.ie
- inishlive.ie
- leinsterleader.ie
- kilkennypeople.ie
- leinsterexpress.ie
- leitrimobserver.ie
- limerickleader.ie
- longfordleader.ie
- dundalkdemocrat.ie
- offalyexpress.ie
- tipperarylive.ie
- waterfordlive.ie
- TheJournal.ie
- PRWeek.com
- iRadio.ie
- AdWorld.ie
- Lovin.ie
- RedFM.ie
- BusinessPost.ie
- TodayFM.com, Dermot & Dave
- RTÉ 2FM
- IrishExaminer.com (Séamas O’Reilly)
- Newstalk.com, Breakfast Business
- IrishPost.com
- IrishAmerica.com (2025)
- The Guardian (2025)
- IrishTimes.com (2025)
- RÚV, Iceland (2025)
- Velev.news, Turkey (2025)
- CreativeBloq.com (2025)
- LBBonline.com (2025)
- Marketing.ie (2025)
- Midlands103.com (2025)
- Ads of the World (2025)
Awards
- Gold, Best Integrated Media Strategy, Digital Media Awards 2023, for chapter one (entered as “Shamrocking the Narrative”)
- Silver, Best Use of AI in Content, Spider Awards 2024, for Paddy A.I.rishman
- Silver, Best Use of AI in Content, European Search Awards 2024, for Paddy A.I.rishman
- Finalist, Digital Media Awards 2022 (two categories), 2024, and Spider Awards 2024 (three categories)
Read about the win: the Digital Media Awards Gold was covered by Irish Travel Trade News, including a quote from EPIC’s CEO.
What purpose-led brands can learn from this
1. Build a platform, not a one-off. Each chapter was new, but the idea stayed the same, so audiences and journalists knew what EPIC stood for.
2. Use data as the hook. Search suggestions and AI images gave each chapter a fact that journalists could test for themselves.
3. Change channels as the conversation moves. Twitter in 2022, AI and X in 2023, TikTok in 2025: each chapter went where the debate was happening.
4. Expect a reaction, and plan for it. A campaign that challenges stereotypes will spark debate. That’s the point, but comments need watching closely.
More from our work with EPIC
See our full partnership with EPIC, the Grand Prix-winning Taylor Swift campaign and the Fairytale of New York Christmas campaigns. Got a cause your brand wants to stand for? Talk to our team.
FAQs: brand campaigns for museums and heritage attractions
How can a museum or heritage attraction stand out from everything else visitors could do?
Stand for something. This Is Not Us gave EPIC a clear point of view on Irish identity, which earned years of press and debate that advertising alone could never buy. It also answered the question every attraction faces: why should I visit you?
Do brand campaigns sell tickets for an attraction?
They work best paired with a route to booking. The campaign earns attention, then always-on Google Ads and retargeting turn it into visits. In 2022, EPIC’s Google Ads sessions rose 38% on the previous period as the campaign ran.
Should a museum or visitor attraction be on TikTok?
If you want to reach younger visitors, yes. For Dear Erin, a one-day TikTok takeover delivered 1.38 million video views and 43,000 clicks. Younger audiences often need follow-up, through retargeting or offers, to turn views into visits.
How do you keep a tourism campaign fresh year after year?
Keep the message and change the story. Each chapter of This Is Not Us found a new place stereotypes live: Google search, AI image tools and Hollywood. That gave the media something new every year without losing what EPIC stands for.
Can a cultural or heritage brand handle a provocative campaign safely?
Yes, with planning. Agree key messages before launch, brief spokespeople, monitor comments daily and know which conversations to join. A campaign that challenges perceptions should start debate while the brand stays in control of the message.
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