Since July 2022, OCM has been managing the marketing activities for Visit Kilkenny, delivering a strategic integrated marketing plan to support the promotion of County Kilkenny. OCM’s strategy hinges on positioning County Kilkenny as a highly attractive place to visit, not only in Ireland’s Ancient East, but Ireland as a whole, creating noise around its culture, adventure, history and food offering. 

 

Visit Kilkenny campaigns are supported with organic and paid social media, Google ads, and PR and media opportunities pushed to highly-rated journalists and TV presenters. As part of our strategy, OCM secured media coverage with key media contacts in the travel industry, including mentions in Pól Ó Conghaile’s travel features in The Irish Independent, live outdoor broadcasts with Deric Hartigan on Ireland AM and a 6-page city feature by Domhnall O’Donoghue in Ireland of the Welcomes magazine. These features highlighted the members of Kilkenny Tourism and provided excellent national and international coverage for their business.

 

In August 2023, OCM launched a shopping competition through Visit Kilkenny to promote members in the retail sector, with a total prize value of €1,500. The competition was supported by both organic content on web and social and a dedicated paid advertising campaign with a built-in entry form. The campaign was hugely successful with over 17,000 entries and a 64% conversion rate to newsletter sign-ups, allowing us to grow the email database alongside the campaign.

 

Another campaign which performed exceptionally well for Visit Kilkenny is the ‘Kilkenny Gifts You’ campaign which went live in mid-December 2023. The idea behind the campaign was to encourage off-peak hotel bookings during the winter months, with enticing branded packages that gave visitors an attractive add-on with their stay. Supported by a paid advertising campaign and organic content using footage from a dedicated media shoot, the campaign saw a very strong ROI. Additional promotional activity to raise awareness of the campaign included a social media competition, a hosted stay with TG4 presenter Jamie Flannery and a collaboration with Rory’s Travel Club.

 

At the end of August 2024, we launched an exciting competition to showcase the Michelin-award winning restaurant, Lady Helen. The prize included an overnight stay in the Manor House at Mount Juliet Estate, 8-course meal at Lady Helen and a selection of treats on departure prepared by Chef John Kelly. For a two month campaign, it exceeded performance expectations and garnered over 17,200 total entries and a 45% newsletter conversion rate. In the Autumn of 2024, we were proud to announce to our growing newsletter database that Kilkenny had been awarded the “Cultural Destination of the Year” at the World Luxury Travel Awards.

 

Our Summer campaign, titled ‘Love Kilkenny Longer’ has strong initiatives to encourage visitors to stay longer in Kilkenny. Our strategy sees us outline all of the things to do within the county and offer discounts across attractions and activities. Set up as a destination campaign with trackable bookings and ROI from marketing spend.