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Verve the Live Agency was named Best Event Team at the 2025 Campaign Experience Awards in London following a landmark year of creative activations across Ireland, the UK and Europe.

The awards celebrate the campaigns, people and agencies raising the bar in experiential and brand experience.

With offices in Dublin, London and Amsterdam, Verve’s 130-strong team delivered a series of campaigns over the past 12 months that combined bold creativity with purpose-led thinking.

The agency focused on crafting meaningful, memorable experiences that resonated with audiences and culture alike.

“Winning Best Event Team is a huge honour, and a reflection of the passion, creativity and relentless energy our team brings to every brief,” said Verve COO Barry Muldowney.

“It’s also a nod to our brilliant clients, who trust us to turn big ambitions into unforgettable moments. This one's for the whole crew.”

RTÉ seeks 400 for redundancy scheme

RTÉ has opened a voluntary exit programme (VEP) as it seeks to reduce staff numbers by as much as 400.

Employees who will have completed at least two years of continuous service on the date they would leave the company under the scheme are eligible to apply, with payments capped at €300,000.

Compensation will rise from four weeks' pay per year of service for staff who have between two and five years' services, to five weeks' pay per year for those with five to 10 years served, and six weeks' pay for those with the company more than a decade.

Payments will be based on each employee's exit salary, and people availing of the scheme will not qualify for any further redundancy. Senior management will not be eligible, and final decisions on applications will be made by leadership with oversight by RTÉ's remuneration and management comittee.

In an email to staff, RTÉ director general Kevin Bakhurst said the Department of Public Expenditure had given its approval to the scheme, and that any future scheme could be less financial beneficial.

He added that applications will be approved "only where a robust business case is made, and it is confirmed that the role can be suppressed or that equivalent savings can be made by suppressing an alternative post and/or redeploying an employee into that role".

The programme will be open for applications until 23 May.

Graham made Silicon Republic managing editor

Rebecca Graham has been appointed managing editor of technology website Silicon Republic.

Graham has been with the site since early 2023 when she was appointed as production editor. Former editor Jenny Darmody left earlier this year.

Graham started her career as a researcher at UCC, and has worked as a technical writer for Johnson Controls and the UCD Centre for Cybersecurity and Cybercrime, developing instructional/training materials.

She also served as a clerical officer for the Irish National Teachers' Organisation (INTO) in 2022, editing a number of the union's publications.

She is a graduate of UCC, earning a BA in English and History in 2012 and an MA in English in 2013, as well as UL, where she graduated with an MA in Journalism last year.

Ginnity joins Department of the Taoiseach

Former Newstalk and JOE.ie content creator Killian Ginnity has joined the Department of the Taoiseach as a special adviser.

Writing on LinkedIn, Ginnity said he was delighted to have taken up the role within Michéal Martin's department.

The Dundalk IT Film and Television Production graduate joined Newstalk as a junior video editor in 2018, and moved up to digital content producer before moving to Virgin Media in 2021.

He spent a year there as a digital content producer across daytime TV shows and produced The Group Chat podcast before moving to JOE.ie as a videographer.

He returned to Newstalk as a digital content creator last year, and he also co-hosts the Not a Pundit soccer podcast, which won Silver at the 2024 Irish Pod Awards.

Google shelves cookies prompt

Google has completed a full u-turn on its decision to scrap third-party cookies.

The search giant had planned to introduce a prompt in its Chrome browser to give users greater choice in how cookies are used to track their movements online.

Google announced its intention to introduce the prompt last July, watering down prior plans to remove third-party cookies altogether after advertisers raised concerns about their ability to personalise adverts being limited.

"As we've engaged with the ecosystem ... it remains clear that there are divergent perspectives on making changes that could impact the availability of third-party cookies," said Anthony Chavez, vice president of the Google-backed Privacy Sandbox initiative, on Tuesday.

"Users can continue to choose the best option for themselves in Chrome's Privacy and Security Settings."

Chavez added that Google plans to continue working on the Privacy Sandbox APIs.

Guinness' Premier League ad scores early when establishing presence

Every week, Amárach and Future Proof Insights share exclusive findings from their PRIZM+ ad testing service, showcasing best practice creative advertising in Ireland.

Guinness doesn’t just roll out the barrels in its Premier League debut, it rolls out a fleet of colour-coded trucks and a heavyweight football legend to match.

From the moment the gates swing open, the ad wastes no time establishing presence.

For more insights into this advert, CLICK HERE.

Photo: Rachel Ward, Zoe Behan, Olivia Collier, Barry Muldowney and Darren Buttle (all from Verve).