Relay For Life Kildare 2026
Supporting Our Community
Through Marketing
Relay For Life Kildare 2026 holds a special place in the Kola Digital story. This was not a commercial brief. It was a cause we chose to stand behind.
In 2026, Kola Digital named Relay For Life Kildare as our official charity partner for the year, committing our time, creativity and expertise entirely pro bono. As a digital marketing agency in Kildare with strong roots in the local community, supporting the event felt entirely right.
Relay For Life is a 24-hour community fundraising event in support of the Irish Cancer Society. It brings together cancer survivors, people living with cancer, families who have lost loved ones, volunteers and community supporters in a powerful act of remembrance and solidarity.
The 2026 Kildare event took place at The Curragh Racecourse, Newbridge, on Saturday 6th and Sunday 7th June, with communities from across the county gathering from 1pm to 1pm the following day.
For Kola Digital, the project brought together many of the services we provide as a marketing agency in Kildare, including branding, PR, social media management, advertising, campaign planning and content creation.
The Brief
Rebranding and Marketing Relay For Life Kildare
Relay For Life Kildare had a passionate committee with strong community roots and a deeply meaningful event to promote. What they needed was more than simple event promotion.
The committee wanted a creative and strategic partner to help tell the Relay For Life story more effectively, increase awareness throughout Kildare and create a stronger visual identity for the campaign. They also wanted a full rebrand for Relay For Life Kildare from the 2026 campaign onwards.
As both a charity marketing agency partner and a digital marketing agency in Kildare, Kola Digital stepped in to support the campaign across multiple touchpoints.
From discussions and planning meetings in December 2025, our team developed the new visual identity and helped coordinate the PR, marketing and branding materials required ahead of the campaign launch in March.
This included branding and signage, social media content, PR activity, campaign creative, fundraising promotion and radio advertising in Ireland to help extend the reach of the event beyond social media.
From the launch through to the event itself, our team worked closely with the Relay For Life Kildare committee and the Irish Cancer Society to maintain a consistent and recognisable campaign.
Charity Marketing and a New Visual Identity
Working as a charity marketing agency on Relay For Life Kildare meant understanding that the campaign had to do more than simply promote dates, locations and fundraising targets.
The communication needed to reflect the people behind the event, encourage participation, support fundraising efforts and give local teams a platform to share their stories.
The new visual identity created a stronger and more consistent look for Relay For Life Kildare across social media, printed materials, signage, PR activity and event promotion.
The branding was designed to improve recognition throughout the county while still reflecting the wider values of Relay For Life and the Irish Cancer Society.
For Kola Digital, this was an opportunity to combine our experience as a marketing agency in Kildare with the specific requirements of charity and community-focused marketing.
Launching Relay For Life Kildare 2026
The campaign for Relay For Life Kildare 2026 was officially launched on Wednesday 11th March at the Keadeen Hotel in Newbridge.
Kola Digital was there on the ground, with our team setting up the room with the necessary branding, providing PR support and creating content for social media.
Our PR activity included preparing and distributing a photocall notice and press release to help generate local media coverage around the launch.
Kola Digital MD Krystle Foley addressed the teams at the event, outlining how the agency would support the promotion and marketing of Relay For Life Kildare throughout the year. She also shared her own story about losing her mother to cancer and why the event was personally meaningful to her.
Among those present were Peter Whyte, Chair of Relay For Life Kildare, Cllr. Carmel Kelly, Cathaoirleach of Kildare County Council, Ciara Hughes, Relay For Life Campaign Manager at the Irish Cancer Society, cancer survivor and Global Hero of Hope Karen Langton, and RTÉ presenter Brenda Donohue, who acted as MC for the evening.
The launch generated significant local attention and was featured across local newspapers, giving the 2026 campaign a strong start.
Social Media Management in Kildare
A major part of the campaign focused on social media.
Kola Digital managed the creation of content for the Relay For Life Kildare Facebook and Instagram channels, developing a content plan designed to build momentum from the March launch through to the June event weekend.
Our approach to social media management in Kildare focused on maintaining regular visibility, recognising participating teams, promoting fundraising activity and keeping people informed about the event.
The campaign also demonstrated how effective social media management in Kildare can help a local charity event maintain momentum over several months rather than relying only on promotion immediately before the event.
Team Spotlight Posts
Individual team features were created to celebrate participating fundraising groups, put names and faces to the cause and encourage others across Kildare to get involved.
Each spotlight was designed to match the new Relay For Life Kildare visual identity, with captions tailored to each team’s story.
The content helped participating teams gain additional exposure while also showing the wider community the people and personal stories behind the fundraising effort.
Candle Bag Fundraiser Posts
Kola Digital also developed content to promote the Candle of Hope ceremony and encourage supporters to purchase candle bags.
The Candle of Hope is one of the most significant moments of the Relay weekend, when personalised candle bags are lit at dusk in tribute to people affected by cancer.
The campaign creative was designed to communicate the emotional importance of the ceremony while providing a clear and simple call to action for supporters.
General Campaign Content
Ongoing awareness posts, event information, fundraising updates and community engagement content helped keep Relay For Life Kildare visible throughout the campaign.
As part of the wider social media management in Kildare strategy, content was planned around key moments in the campaign, participating teams, fundraising initiatives and important event information.
Our team worked closely with the Irish Cancer Society, the Relay For Life Kildare committee and participating teams to bring the campaign together.
Radio Advertising in Ireland as Part of the Campaign
Digital activity was only one part of the wider campaign.
Kola Digital also supported the development of a radio advertisement for Relay For Life Kildare, helping the event reach audiences beyond social media.
Our work included scripting, reviewing and refining the advertisement to ensure the message worked effectively within the 30-second broadcast window while still communicating the importance of Relay For Life.
The radio campaign complemented the digital, social media and PR activity, helping create a broader and more integrated promotional campaign.
For Kola Digital, the project demonstrated how radio advertising in Ireland can work effectively alongside digital marketing, social media, PR and branding.
Rather than treating radio advertising in Ireland as a standalone channel, it formed part of the overall campaign strategy and helped reinforce awareness of Relay For Life Kildare across different audiences.
Digital Marketing for a Community Campaign
As a digital marketing agency in Kildare, our role was to ensure that every part of the campaign worked together.
The social media activity supported the fundraising message. The branding created consistency. PR activity generated additional local exposure. The radio campaign helped extend the reach of the event.
This integrated approach allowed Relay For Life Kildare to maintain visibility from the launch in March through to the event weekend in June.
It also reflected the type of work we provide as a digital marketing agency in Kildare, where branding, content, social media, advertising and PR are planned as parts of one wider campaign rather than separate activities.
The Event and Its Impact
Relay For Life Kildare 2026 marked another important year for the local event.
Having raised more than €1 million for the Irish Cancer Society across its history, Relay For Life Kildare continued to bring together teams, volunteers, survivors and supporters from across the county.
The ambassador for the 2026 event was Westlife’s Shane Filan, helping generate additional attention around the campaign and creating further engagement on social media.
On the day, the Kola Digital team captured social media content with Shane and participating teams, which was provided to the Relay For Life Kildare committee for live posting throughout the event.
This live content formed another important part of the campaign’s social media management in Kildare, allowing people who were not at The Curragh to follow the event as it happened.
In 2025 alone, funds raised through Relay For Life Kildare helped the Irish Cancer Society provide important services across the county, including:
- 2,145 free lifts bringing patients to and from cancer treatment
- 341 free counselling sessions for people affected by cancer
- 233 nights of Night Nursing care, allowing patients to spend their final days at home with loved ones
- 1,067 conversations providing support through the Society's Support Line and Daffodil Centres
Charity Marketing That Had a Real Community Impact
Supporting Relay For Life Kildare as our charity partner was one of the most meaningful projects Kola Digital has been involved in.
Behind every social media post, team spotlight, fundraising creative, radio advertisement and campaign asset was a real person giving their time to support people affected by cancer.
Our role as a charity marketing agency partner was to help those stories reach more people.
Our role as a marketing agency in Kildare was to bring together branding, PR, advertising, content and social media in a way that helped support the committee’s work.
And our role as a digital marketing agency in Kildare was to use the skills we apply every day for our clients to support something that mattered directly to our own community.
For a Kildare-based agency built around community, there are few projects more meaningful than that.
Need a charity campaign that connects with your community?
Kola Digital provides branding, digital marketing, social media management, PR and campaign support for charities and organisations across Kildare and Ireland.
