One company paid almost €400k for social media monitoring and focus groups in early stages of pandemic

The Department of Health said the research had been intended to understand the “extent to which the public understood and were empowered to comply with the public health advice to protect themselves and their loved ones from this novel disease”. Picture: Gareth Chaney/Collins

One company was paid almost €400,000 by the Department of Health for social media listening, focus groups and other market research about Covid-19.

Brand agency MCCP had been hired by the department before the pandemic to work on two projects relating to communications planning, and for “a radical listening exercise” on women’s health, which were expected to together cost around €140,000.