DollyDay, Listowel
Head of Brand, Marketing & Communications (volunteer)
Listowel is a small town in Kerry, and it still holds the record for the largest gathering of people dressed as Dolly Parton anywhere on earth.
Getting there wasn't really a creative problem so much as a very specific paperwork problem. Guinness World Records has rules, evidence requirements and an actual verification process, and somebody had to get a small-town charity fundraiser through all of it properly, which is a less glamorous kind of production work, but it's still production work. On top of that sat the real job: turning a local event into something press outside Kerry would actually care about. A Guinness World Record attempt turns out to be an easy story to sell in, because "world record" does half the headline for you.
Over a thousand people turned up in wigs and rhinestones, the record was verified and went into the book, and the day raised €74,670 for Kerry Hospice and Comfort for Chemo. It also picked up international media coverage and, best of all, an actual video message and donation from Dolly Parton herself, which isn't the kind of thing you expect out of a fundraiser in your home county.
