How UGC Made Galway Summer Vibes
a 1M+ View Sensation

Overview

The Galway Summer Vibes Festival was introduced to coincide with Galway Race Week, running from Monday 28 July to Wednesday 30 July 2025. The objective was to attract local residents back into the city centre through a programme of free street entertainment, live music, and family-friendly activities.

With no pre-existing digital channels, the campaign required a complete build of an online presence from the ground up. The strategic focus was on UGC-led, platform-native content to ensure rapid reach, engagement, and community relevance.

Objectives

  • Drive traffic to the Galway Summer Vibes Festival brochure to encourage event attendance.

  • Build new TikTok and Instagram channels with measurable growth and engagement.

  • Utilise paid media to amplify high-performing organic content to Galway audiences.

  • Achieve significant reach, video views, and engagement metrics within the campaign period.

Strategy

Content Approach

The campaign utilised a people-first creative direction, with real individuals and spontaneous moments as the focal point. Content was captured, edited, and published in real time to retain immediacy and authenticity.

Key elements included:

  • UGC & Creator Partnerships:

    • Local creators documented their own experiences of Galway.

    • National creators, including Conor Finn, Meghann Scully, and Jamie O’Flannura, delivered platform-native content such as vox pops, highlight reels, and trending TikTok formats.

  • Platform-Specific Execution:

    • TikTok: Short-form vertical videos using trending audio and candid walk-and-talk formats.

    • Instagram: Reels, Stories, and in-feed posts with behind-the-scenes footage and crowd highlights.

  • Organic + Paid Integration: All content was optimised for organic performance before being amplified with targeted paid media (€3,000 budget).

Impact

By placing authentic UGC at the core of the strategy, the campaign delivered substantial reach and engagement within a compressed timeframe. The use of creator-led storytelling ensured that content was both relevant and shareable, achieving over 1.6M reach and 1M+ video views with minimal media investment.

The integration of organic and paid media amplified the campaign’s strongest content, driving nearly 20,000 brochure clicks and establishing new, engaged audiences across TikTok and Instagram from zero baseline.

Want to See How UGC Can Boost Your Brand?

If you’d like to explore how UGC and creator-led content can help your brand grow awareness, drive sales, and connect authentically with your audience, we’d love to chat.