We’re Zahra — a boutique content marketing agency based in Bray.
For over 20 years, we’ve helped brands connect with audiences through strategic, creative content that cuts through the noise and delivers results.
We’re small, agile, and proudly independent — combining big-agency thinking with boutique attention to detail.
At Zahra, we believe great content and good impact go hand in hand.
Through Zahra Helps, our registered charity, we support children’s education in South Africa and Zambia. Our partnership with RIZE — a literacy school in Zambia — has helped grow the student body from 70 to over 250 children through improved infrastructure and funding.
Closer to home, we ensure nothing from our food shoots goes to waste. Surplus food is donated to W.H. Five Loaves, a local Bray charity tackling food insecurity.
Doing good isn’t an extra for us — it’s part of who we are.
We’re a team of strategists, designers, writers and creators who care deeply about ideas that matter and work that works.
Built on a proud brewing heritage that started in Cork over 160 years ago, HEINEKEN Ireland is one of Ireland’s leading beer and cider companies. With a premium brand portfolio and ubiquitous presence in bars, restaurants and retailers around the country, one could say they need no introduction. But there was one connection that badly needed to be reinforced—and that was the link with their business customers in venues across Ireland.
Ireland had produced a quarterly publication in 2018, The Publican Chronicle, distributed to a small sample of publicans by sales reps. While anecdotal feedback was that the information it contained was good, it was unclear whether the magazine was truly valued—and, indeed, whether it was actually reaching the customers targeted. What’s more, there was no feedback available from readers. With a goal of positioning themselves as thought leaders in the industry, and a consultative resource for pubs and bars in Ireland, HEINEKEN Ireland looked to improve the publication with three goals in mind: • Increasing talkability, and have the publication used as a consultation tool; • Increasing engagement with customers; • And, measuring performance to see if the publication was meeting objectives.
Like so many strategic plans, it all started with a workshop— complete with a deep dive into audience personas, an analysis of distribution channels and content formats, and a complete rethink of the look and feel of the publication. Key to it all was the realisation that the focus needed to move from the brand to the customer. Rather than thinking solely about the goals of HEINEKEN Ireland, the team looked at what their customers needed, and how HEINEKEN Ireland could help them. With a positive—and puntastic—new title, Get Ahead, and a content plan tailored to both rural and urban markets, the new publication began to take shape. A bright new design was implemented, combining existing brand guidelines with a sleek and innovative layout befitting a forward-thinking publication. Print and digital magazines would be produced, with feedback from readers providing direction on how distribution would continue going forward. Feedback channels, including a reader survey placed in Issue 3, and the analytics available from the digital edition, would be invaluable in monitoring the performance of the publication, as would reports from reps in the field.
The reader survey results speak volumes: 89% of readers reacted positively to the new publication, with the same amount finding the content useful. Rep feedback was also encouraging, as nearly 40% reported using it as a talking point with customers. Furthermore, the digital statistics offered further evidence of success; a dwell time of 3.3 minutes compares favourably with the industry norm, while the popularity of articles covering pub showcases, sustainability and biodiversity, and tips for running a business proved the careful selection of content was paying dividends. Most importantly, HEINEKEN Ireland finally has a measurable magazine packed with useful content yielding positive results and feedback.
Aviva Recruitment Videos THE CHALLENGE When people hear Aviva, perhaps the first thing they think of is the time they made a motor insurance claim, their first investment or the home of Irish rugby and soccer, Aviva Stadium. As well as being an insurance provider, Aviva Ireland is also a great place to work. It places significant emphasis on attracting and retaining employees by empowering them to bring their full selves to work, and providing the necessary tools and resources to enable a successful career journey.Aviva wanted to attract skilled professionals to join their organisation across various functions. However, they faced stiff competition from other companies in the industry. They needed a unique and compelling way to stand out and showcase their company values and career opportunities.
Zahra was enlisted to create a three-part video series highlighting why people should consider Aviva as a future employer. Each episode followed a different theme, including Diversity & Inclusion, Aviva’s Contact Centre, and Careers at Aviva. The series aimed to capture the attention of top talent, engage a wide audience and highlight Aviva’s company culture.We worked with various individuals across the business from graduates, to those working within the business for over 15 years to humanise what working for a financial provider really looks like, and the doors it can open. By leveraging the power of video storytelling we set out to create a compelling narrative that would resonate with potential candidates and differentiate Aviva from other employers in the industry.
Zahra’s role included pre-production, shoot and edit requirements.THE IMPACT
The main objectives of our content strategy were:
Goal: Increase job applications.
Result: Increase of 40% in applications on the back of Aviva’s recruitment campaign. In the first 10 days of the wider campaign, Aviva received 47 applications compared to 15 applications across a standard 10-day period.
Goal:Increase traffic to Aviva.ie. In particular, the careers section of the website which focuses on opportunities in Co.Galway
Result: During the campaign period, there were a total of 2,749 visits to the Galway careers site, compared to a total of 77 visits prior to the campaign. The contact centre video was based on the real-life experiences of staff based in Aviva’s Contact Centre in Galway, showing the impact the video had on making job opportunities in this part of the country more appealing to potential employees.
Goal: Raise awareness of what a career at Aviva can look like.
Result: The social campaign delivered a total of 821,284 impressions, triumphing the campaign KPI of 397,800. Impressions were 106% above target.
“We decided to run a large recruitment campaign for our Galway based office – we had moved to a new location and wanted to provide awareness of that. I worked closely with zahra to communicate what the business wanted. They understood the brief and provided high quality output and expertise experience in bringing this to life. Two years on the assets are still being used for smaller recruitment campaigns. Absolutely thrilled with the work Zahra completed here.
SMEs account for 99.7% of active enterprises in Ireland. Some of the major issues facing SMEs nationwide include cash flow irregularity, disposable income and investing in growth. According to the CSO, over a third of Irish SMEs are struggling with cash flow, which makes forecasting incredibly difficult, affecting profitability, financial arrangements and reputation. Feedback from Volkswagen Financial Services (VWFS) customers shows this combination of challenges prevents SMEs from purchasing suitable modes of transport required to keep businesses on the road.
Zahra was enlisted to produce a master video and accompanying social snippets showing how VWFS can provide a solution completely tailored to an SMEs needs; a solution that not only fits a business owner’s vision but the bottom line too. Working closely with a VWFS customer (Carole Horgan, Founder, The Best of Buds), we produced a video designed to show the benefits of VWFS’ Leasing service based on the reality of a small business owner operating in today’s challenging market. In presenting this piece in a positive and affirmative way, we visually conveyed that this experience is also possible for potential and existing customers, for VWFS and The Best of Buds alike.
Zahra managed the end-to-end production process, which included creative concepting, case study management, location management, shoot capture and edit. The content was designed to attract the attention of SME owners experiencing similar issues to the challenges addressed in the video content. This audience was targeted via a digital campaign across programmatic, YouTube, LinkedIn and Facebook.
The main objectives of our content strategy were:
Summary of performance across Facebook
Summary of performance across LinkedIn
