50-Person Irish Team Strengthens Leadership Ranks with Exec Bridging Strategy, Creativity, and Commercial Success

Connelly Partners is delighted to announce the appointment of Adam Brannigan as Business Director. In this new role, Adam will oversee the brand department, support new business efforts, and drive growth of the CP brand in Ireland. 

A Decade of Through-the-Line Expertise 

With over a decade of Through the Line expertise spanning TV, Out Of Home, digital and social, Adam is recognised for his ability to ensure big creative ideas translate seamlessly across every channel while staying culturally sharp.

Adam’s worked with some of the world’s most recognised brands such as Selfridges Group (Brown Thomas, Arnotts), Kerry Group, Dunnes Stores, Renault, Audi, ALDI, Bulmers, and Mitsubishi. He has a track record as a trusted Creative & Cultural Strategy Partner, helping brands refine their tone, positioning and content to build stronger connections with audiences.

Industry Leadership and Vision

Beyond client work, Adam has actively shaped the future of the Irish advertising industry. A former IAPI Board Member and Chair of Futureheads, he co-founded STEPS — a first-of-its-kind mentorship programme uniting clients and agencies. He continues to champion emerging talent, most recently leading a workshop designed to help mentees maximise the value of their mentoring relationships.

At a time when AI is reshaping advertising, Adam brings what machines cannot: instinct, empathy, and human connection. Known as the “calm pilot you want when turbulence hits,” he bridges strategy, creativity, and commercial success.

Connelly Partners’ Continued Growth

With a 50-person strong team in Dublin, Connelly Partners provides an end-to-end, full-service offering for Irish and global clients. The independent advertising agency continues to expand its leadership talent to meet the demands of a growing client roster, which includes Heineken brands Birra Moretti & Coors, The National Transport Authority and ESB & Electric Ireland.

Vaunnie McDermott, Managing Director at Connelly Partners, said:
“Adam is a brilliant addition to our leadership team. His expertise across every channel, his cultural awareness, and his proven ability to unite strategy with creativity will bring immense value to our clients. He has a natural ability to lead with empathy and clarity, which perfectly reflects Connelly Partners’ ethos and ambitions.”

Adam Brannigan commented: “Connelly Partners is an agency that puts people at the heart of everything it does — something I strongly believe in. This is an exciting opportunity to build on a culture of curiosity, integrity and empathy while helping clients navigate a rapidly changing industry. I’m thrilled to join such a dynamic team and to contribute to the agency’s continued growth and success.”

Additional Coverage:
IAPI: Irish Team Strengthens Leadership Ranks
AdWorld: Branningan Joins Connelly Partners as Business Director

There’s nothing quite like seeing a client’s hard work recognised on a major stage. We couldn’t be prouder to share that Bus Éireann swept The Changemaker 2025 awards, winning both the Marketing Initiative award and the coveted Overall Winner title for their brilliant “My best move, yours too” campaign.

The Marketing Initiative category honours those who have delivered powerful messaging that not only drives results but also resonates deeply with their audience, creating memorable and meaningful connections

How Connelly Partners Transformed Bus Éireann’s Recruitment

Connelly Partners delivered a game-changing recruitment campaign for Bus Éireann that went beyond traditional job advertising. Facing a nationwide talent shortage and urgent need for workforce diversification, the “My Best Move, Yours Too” campaign reimagined how public transport could attract and inspire career changers.

The Challenge

Bus Éireann confronted a dual problem: scaling their workforce while addressing significant gender imbalance in operational roles. Traditional recruitment methods weren’t delivering the volume or diversity needed, particularly among women who didn’t see themselves reflected in the industry.

The Solution

Rather than generic job ads, Connelly Partners centered the campaign on authentic employee stories, real drivers who had changed careers and found purpose, stability, and joy in public transport. This emotional storytelling approach reframed bus driving from a routine job into a fulfilling, future proof career path.

The campaign strategically deployed across multiple channels including VOD, digital audio, Meta, TikTok, and media partnerships, using data driven targeting to reach career changers and underrepresented groups.

Results

The campaign delivered exceptional outcomes: a 5x increase in applications, female driver representation rising to 11.2%, and 25% of trainee drivers now being women.

Beyond numbers, the campaign shifted perceptions, challenged stereotypes, and created lasting emotional connections between the brand and its people, proving that purpose driven marketing delivers measurable business impact.

This win reinforces something we’re passionate about: great marketing isn’t just about clever creative or smart strategy in isolation. It’s about bringing both together in service of something bigger, creating work that matters to real people and drives real change.

Have a look at the work below:

Nick Cronk, Co-Managing Director, CP West

The world’s premier tech conference is an overwhelming experience which requires athletic footwear and a well-organized calendar. Packed with talks, workshops, seminars, networking and social events, some 17,000 attendees gathered to ingest as much as they could on all things tech, digital and web.

The event is huge for the city of Vancouver, validating its already burgeoning tech scene and drawing thousands of visitors from across the globe. Here are my key takeaways from a dizzying few days:

1) No One Has a Clue About AI
Quite simply, I didn’t hear or speak to one person who has figured it out yet. We’re firmly in the infancy phase of discovery, and will be for some time. While there is (rightly) much hype around the possibilities of what it can do, we’re spinning in a world of trials and tests, with existing applications and uses remaining rudimental. The infinite incantations of where and how it manifests in your marketing world is paralyzing, so much so that actual implementation is slow. There’s no doubt, however, that if you can navigate this chaos, identify that sweet spot and take a leap into some unknowns, the net result and benefit will be huge. Attempting to do that as a side project or initiative means you’re going to come up short. It needs serious commitment, dedicated resource and courage to avoid the pitfalls of the discovery cycle.

2) The Agentic Age Cometh
This is going to fundamentally challenge the way we think of the customer journey, marketing funnel and experience within a frighteningly short space of time. While they might not yet be able to take out the trash, we’re increasingly familiarizing ourselves with the capabilities of AI agents to make other menial tasks a thing of the past. From booking flights or hotel rooms, to your weekly supermarket shop, the days of how consumers interact with brands, especially in the purchase stage, are about to experience a drastic change, comparable to the arrival of the internet. Brian Yamada sums up the opportunity well when speaking about Bionic Brands, where the marketers who win will find ways to increase relevance and personalization at scale. This isn’t just about making the future even more frictionless, it’s actually about using technology to make it more human.

3) ROI Is Dangerous
Marketers are increasingly falling into a trap where they chase efficiency and optimize for the incremental, says Joey Camire. It makes us myopic, he adds, leading us to do the same activity over and over again to maintain the status quo. Outcomes can be explained, good or bad. But in doing so, other critical metrics fall to the wayside: lessening differentiation, thwarting innovation, worsening customer experiences, and making it near impossible to drive significant growth. This isn’t to say that taking un-calculated risks is the solution, but instead a reminder to challenge ourselves as marketers to pursue opportunities outside of the ordinary. A timely reminder too, given the latest report from WARC (June ‘25), which explores Why Marketing Needs A New Measurement Mindset, and outlines how to embrace real-world nuances to help marketers make confident decisions. 

As we grapple with the AI revolution and re-evaluate our measurement mindsets, one thing is clear: the future of marketing demands not just adaptation, but bold imagination. What’s your next brave leap? Let’s talk.

Media-savvy colleges and universities are moving past their traditional communications teams to tap into the hot market of influencer campaigns that resonate with Gens Z and Alpha. Instead of recruiting A-list celebrities or internet personality moguls to champion their campuses, however, institutions have found a more effective (and cheaper) spokesperson.

“Current students and alumni are our biggest advocates,” says Chandra Carson, executive director of content marketing at the University of New Hampshire. “They already love the university, and so they’re able to share their stories and experiences with prospective students.”

Higher education spent over $200 million on advertising via mobile web video in 2024, the highest among all media, according to a recent report from Education Dynamics, an enrollment management service. It found that the trend is primarily driven by short-form video content, often called “reels,” which is ubiquitous with the new social media titan TikTok. One source claims TikTok is more popular than Google’s search engine among Gen Z.

Institutions must appeal to advertising to Gen Z in new ways. These young, media-savvy consumers, well-versed in the trappings of corporate content, desire authentic expression, says Alyssa Stevens, Public Relations and Social Media Director at advertising agency Connelly Partners.

“That content is best created by either creators or real people, a.k.a influencers, and in this case, students and alumni of the organization, so they have an authentic connection to the organization that we’re promoting.”

Influencer content created by the University of New Hampshire in collaboration with Connelly Partners has a 22% higher engagement rate than brand content created internally, she says. Its latest campaign reached over 90% of its target audience.

Some of the most popular types of influencer videos show students roaming around campus and pointing out different amenities offered by the institution. This format could captivate prospective first-generation students who may have no other resource to help them visualize the college atmosphere, Carson says.

“These point-of-view videos give them a behind-the-scenes, almost voyeuristic, look at what it’s like to be a student,” Stevens says. “You familiarize them with the environment to ease them into taking action.”

How to Build an Influencer Campaign

Colleges and universities are spending various amounts on influencer campaigns. Institutions can build an effective grassroots movement by pushing marketing materials seeded from students’ social media feeds and boosting their posts to capture a broader audience.

Another way is by recruiting students or alumni with a strong following to serve in a more robust influencer campaign strategy, in which the institution feeds its newfound spokesperson with key messaging points.

However, a savvy social media user may still smell an advertisement from an influencer if a university’s marketing team isn’t careful, Carson notes. “You have to find who is speaking positively about the university, who’s authentically already saying these things. What you don’t want is to utilize somebody who has never spoken about the university and suddenly they’re a talking head and it doesn’t make any sense.”

Article and images from University Business.

Lily Ward, Brand Manager

Work, Wander, Repeat: My Time at CP Dublin

After years of imagining what living abroad might feel like, I finally got my chance thanks to Connelly Partners’ Abroad program. Like many others, my college study abroad plans were cancelled due to Covid, so this felt like a second chance to experience living abroad. And Dublin didn’t disappoint! From the moment I arrived, I was struck by the charm of the city and the warmth of the people. I stayed near St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and my daily commute to the office quickly became a favorite ritual, hopping on the double-decker bus and enjoying the view of the city.

Working out of the CP Dublin office was the highlight of my experience. The Dublin team was very welcoming, it was so fun getting to know how they work, and just generally soaking up a new agency vibe in a different time zone. It reminded me of the universal language we all speak at CP, even with a few more Irish accents (my absolute favorite part, if I’m being honest).

Spending a full month in Dublin gave me a chance to really settle into the city. I loved finding the best coffee, trying new restaurants, and enjoying how walkable Dublin really is. I was also lucky with the weather, a fact the locals reminded me of daily, which made outdoor patios and after-work strolls even more enjoyable. And yes, the pubs. I can’t talk about Dublin without mentioning the cozy, character-filled pubs on every block. 

On weekends, I traded city views for cliff walks and rolling green hills. The Irish countryside is ridiculous in the best way; lush, cinematic, and filled with more baby lambs than I could emotionally handle. My friends and family came to visit, which gave me the chance to play tour guide while seeing more of the country myself.

I am so grateful for this experience. It was an amazing opportunity to connect, work, explore, and experience a new culture in an immersive way. I came home with a full camera roll, a deeper appreciation for Irish slang, and a dangerously high standard for what qualifies as a proper cozy pub.

The photography-led campaign offers an intimate glimpse into the world of air travel.

Who: Flair Airlines for strategy and creative; Connelly Partners for creative and execution; Wildfire for event production and logistics; Fladgate Brand Management for print production and installation; National Geographic explorer, and photographer, Mackenzie Calle for photography.

What: “FlairFWD,” a two-week photography exhibit that intimately showcases the behind-the-scenes choreography of aviation. The intention is to renew and remind consumers of Flair’s mission to provide affordable air travel that connects Canadians to the people and experiences they love.

When & Where: The exhibit ran April 12–13 for the public in a vacant Gastown space in Vancouver, following a private event for stakeholders and staff. FlairFWD is set to travel to other Canadian cities where the airline has major hubs.

Why: The activation is intended to demonstrate a shift towards a more emotional way of connecting the airline with potential passengers. 

“FlairFWD was designed to signal a new era for Flair—one defined by confidence, clarity, and momentum,” said Patrick Smith, creative director at Flair Airlines. “Using award-winning photographer Mackenzie Calle’s distinct and beautiful imagery, we captured the essence of a brand on the rise. This was a Flair-led creative vision, brought to life with the support of Connelly Partners and Wildfire Events, who helped execute and implement the initiative with precision and energy.”

How: The campaign was anchored by the work of National Geographic explorer and photographer Mackenzie Calle, whose exhibit aims to highlight the dual beauty and complexity of air travel, from sweeping aerial vistas to candid moments behind the scenes. 

The photos feature a mix of layered textures, lighting, large-scale prints, and experimental print techniques, to facilitate a multi-sensory experience for viewers. They will also be used across all of Flair’s paid and owned channels.

The public opening subsequently turned the exhibit into an interactive brand story, offering consumers an intimate glimpse at Flair’s evolution and the people who contribute to its success. 

And we quote: “The most fulfilling work happens when clients are clear on their mission and brave enough to break the mold. That’s what we’ve found with Flair. We believe in what they’re building, and we’re proud to travel alongside them as partners on what we know is an important journey.”–Nadine Cole, co-managing director, Connelly Partners West.

Read article on Campaign Canada.

This fall, Connelly Partners (CP) launched Connelly Partners Health (CP Health), a new dedicated health practice as part of the agency’s integrated offering that takes a unique human approach to healthcare marketing. Building off the agency’s Defiantly Human strategic approach to uncover human truths and shared values between brands and customers, CP Health taps this capability and applies it in working with life sciences, medtech, and healthcare organizations. CP Health works with clients through a process, leveraging anthropology, data, and technology to uncover what audiences want and guide brand strategy, creative, and integrated execution.

Read more here.

Additional coverage:
PM360: The 2021 Innovators

Connelly Partners (CP) announced today that it is launching Connelly Partners Health (CP Health), a new dedicated health practice as part of the agency’s integrated offering. Building off of the agency’s work in healthcare over the past two decades, CP Health will specialize in working with LifeScience, MedTech and Healthcare organizations. By tapping into CP’s Defiantly Human philosophy and mission to defend the role of emotion and the human right brain, CP Health will partner with clients to define strategy and campaigns that reflect the shared values between patients/healthcare providers and brands. CP Health will work with clients through a process that leverages anthropology, data, and technology to uncover what audiences want and guide brand strategy, creative and integrated execution.

Read more here.

Additional coverage:
AdAge: Connelly Partners’ New Health Practice
Adweek: Revolving Door Roundup: Connelly Partners Health
Boston Globe: Connelly Partners Making A Healthy Bet
MediaPost: Connelly Partners Launches Health Practice
PharmaLive: Connelly Partners Launches Connelly Partners Health