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
Funtasia’s Pumpkin Patch Festival in Drogheda had a few weeks to sell tickets and a crowded Halloween midterm to stand out in. We came on board in mid-September 2025. By the end of October the festival had earned 19 pieces of coverage, including RTÉ.ie, The Sunday Times and three live segments broadcast from the park on Virgin Media’s Ireland AM.
Alongside the digital PR, we ran Google Ads and Meta ads around the same story, with tracking set up so every ad could be judged on the tickets it sold.
At a glance
- Client: Funtasia Theme Park, Drogheda, Co. Louth
- Campaign: Pumpkin Patch Festival, September to October 2025
- Vroom’s role: digital PR and media relations, Google Ads, Meta ads, and tracking set-up
- Results: 19 pieces of coverage, 3.79 million reach, €163,000+ in advertising value equivalent, live on Ireland AM, and a 12.1x return on Google Ads spend
- Coverage highlights: RTÉ.ie (twice), The Sunday Times, Irish Daily Star, Irish Daily Mirror, TheSun.ie, Extra.ie and Rollercoaster.ie
19
pieces
Of coverage across online, print and live national TV
3.79
M
Combined audience reach, including RTÉ.ie, The Sunday Times and Ireland AM
12.1
x
Return on Google Ads spend in the campaign’s first three weeks
The challenge: a short window and a crowded Halloween
The Pumpkin Patch Festival is one of Funtasia’s biggest dates of the year, but it runs on a tight window: a handful of festival days across October. Every family attraction in Ireland is chasing the same midterm, and most families decide where to go from Halloween roundups, things-to-do lists and a quick Google search.
We had a tight turnaround. We came on board in mid-September, with the first festival days only weeks away. So the best thing we could do was put the story in the hands of the journalists we trusted, and get the festival in front of Irish families fast.
The idea: sell the day out, not just the venue
Journalists writing Halloween roundups need the details families care about. So the story led with them: pumpkin picking, the Halloween Express train ride, Halloween movies, a costume competition, and tickets from €6.90. That made it easy to drop Funtasia into a list, or to build a whole feature around it.
And we went after the places families actually plan their midterm: national Halloween roundups, family and parenting sites, national and regional print, and breakfast TV.
How we brought it to families
PR first. We had the PR activity planner with Funtasia in mid-September and the press release out to media on 1 October. Coverage started landing the same day, and kept building through the month.
Live national TV. On 30 October, the eve of Halloween, Ireland AM broadcast live from Funtasia across three segments, including the morning weather report.
Tracking before spend. We set up revenue tracking on Google Ads and Meta so every booking reported its value back to the campaign that drove it. Once it was live, budget could follow results instead of guesswork.
Google Ads to catch the searches. A dedicated Pumpkin Patch campaign launched on 2 October, aimed at families searching for things like “pumpkin patch”, “pumpkin picking” and “Halloween family activities”, as well as people searching for Funtasia by name.
Meta ads to reach families in their feeds. Halloween-themed creative, with budget raised once tracking showed what each euro was returning. We also reviewed the booking journey and flagged where families were dropping out before they bought.
Results
- 19 pieces of coverage across online, print and broadcast, reaching 3.79 million people
- €163,000+ in advertising value equivalent from earned media
- Three live segments on Virgin Media’s Ireland AM, broadcast from the park
- 12.1x return on Google Ads spend in the campaign’s first three weeks
- The non-brand search “pumpkin patch” returned 9.7x its spend, with an 11.88% click-through rate. For non-brand search, 1–5% is typical
- Searches for “Funtasia pumpkin patch” returned 143x their spend: families who had heard about the festival went looking for it by name
The coverage
A selection of the coverage the campaign earned across national online, print and TV.
National online
- Independent.ie: spook season, five ways Drogheda families can get into the Halloween spirit
Family and lifestyle
- EverythingHalloween.ie: pumpkin patches and events around Ireland
- GoWild Magazine: how to celebrate Halloween 2025 in Ireland
- The Sunday Times
- Irish Daily Star (twice)
- Irish Daily Mirror
- Dublin Gazette
- Meath Chronicle
TV
- Virgin Media One, Ireland AM: three live segments from Funtasia, including the weather
The moment nobody planned
Live TV is live TV. During the 30 October broadcast, weatherman Deric Hartigan missed his cue on air, and the studio, and viewers, loved it. The clip became a story of its own, shared on Ireland AM’s own social channels and written up by TheSun.ie, RSVP Live and Radio Nova. Every write-up said where it happened: live from Drogheda.
Amazing stuff Niamh, thanks for the updates and great to see so many places picking it up!
Conor, Funtasia
Why it worked
One team, one campaign. PR, Google Ads and Meta launched in the same fortnight around the same story, so the attention PR created had somewhere to land.
Pitched where the decision gets made. Families choose Halloween plans from roundups and things-to-do lists, so that’s where we put Funtasia.
Proof, not guesswork. Fixing the tracking first meant every euro could be judged on the tickets it sold.
Got a festival, launch or busy season to sell? We get attractions and events into the national roundups, onto breakfast TV and in front of the families who book. See how our digital PR works, or get in touch below.
FAQs: event and attraction PR
What does an event PR agency do for an attraction?
We find the angle that makes your event news, then get it in front of the journalists families read: national roundups, family and lifestyle sites, print and broadcast. For Funtasia, that meant 19 pieces of coverage and live national TV in about six weeks.
How far ahead should a seasonal event start PR?
The earlier the better, but it can be done quickly. We started Funtasia in mid-September for an October festival. Roundup writers start planning Halloween, Christmas and summer pieces weeks ahead, so the sooner your story reaches them, the more lists you make.
Can PR and paid ads work together?
Yes, and they work best together. PR gets people talking and searching. Paid search and social make sure they find you and can book. Tracking ties it together so you can see what each euro returns.
Do you only work with big attractions?
No. Funtasia is a family theme park in Drogheda. We work with attractions, events and seasonal businesses of all sizes across Ireland.
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