Launching Cróga, a new Irish sports nutrition brand
Cróga is a new Irish sports nutrition brand that’s been specially developed for Gaelic games. The brand is a joint venture between the GAA, the Gaelic Players Association (GPA), and Co. Meath manufacturer Nuvion Nutrition.
Our challenge was a cold start. Sports nutrition is a crowded and competitive category, and Cróga had no customers, no profile and nowhere to buy.
Croke Park was the natural home for the announcement, and we built the day to make the most of what the venue stands for. A brand asking players to trust it needs to earn that trust somewhere, and an announcement made on the pitch at GAA headquarters made a strong statement.
The product story could not carry national news on its own, so we built the day around the people in the room. With Clare hurler Shane O’Donnell and Antrim ladies footballer Lara Dahunsi present, covering both hurling and ladies football, we structured the launch as a genuine media opportunity rather than a photocall, giving sports desks a reason to attend and a story to file.
We also worked backwards from the sale: have somewhere to buy before anyone goes looking. Cróga needed a shop as well as an announcement, so we designed and built croga-nutrition.com. The site carries the brand story, the full opening range (protein, creatine, collagen) and a checkout that works on a phone, since our research told us that most of the launch traffic would arrive from a video or a news story rather than a desktop.
Event Management
Managed the launch event at Croke Park, including run of day, media schedule, interview slots and product sampling, with the Nuvion Nutrition Managing Director, the Croke Park stadium director, the GPA chief executive and two inter county players on site.
Media relations
Wrote the announcement with Nuvion Nutrition, the GAA and the GPA, agreed key messages and spokesperson quotes, and handled distribution and follow up to sports, business and trade media.
Influencer engagement
Invited and managed attendance from national sports media, trade press and relevant influencers, scheduling each outlet its own interview slot rather than a single group doorstep.
Creative services
Briefed the creative for the photography and video and managed the capture on the day, producing the branded stills and footage that carried the brand into coverage and into the client’s own channels.
Website design and development
Designed and built croga.ie from scratch on Shopify, covering the full product range, brand story and checkout. Took the store live a week before launch so the channel was trading before the publicity began.
Digital marketing
Planned and ran the launch campaign across Google Search, Google Shopping, Performance Max and Meta, weighted to awareness first and sales second, so the demand created by the coverage had somewhere to land.
Results
28 pieces of coverage across broadcast, national print, online and trade.
Combined audience of 41 million across the outlets that carried it.
National pickup included RTÉ, the Irish Times, the Irish Examiner, the Irish Independent, the Irish Sun, the Irish Daily Mail, the Irish Daily Star, the Irish Daily Mirror, the Herald, Extra.ie, The 42 and the Irish News.
Trade, regional and governing body coverage on Sport for Business, LMFM and GAA.ie, reaching the GAA’s own audience directly.
The brand’s launch line and branded photography were carried in the day’s main GAA stories, not only in product and trade listings.
Store live and trading a week before the announcement, so launch coverage landed on a working shop.
Campaign live across Google Search, Shopping, Performance Max and Meta from day one.
