Hygge, pronounced hoo-ga, is the Scandinavian concept loosely defined as hunkering down and getting cosy with favourite things and people.

To celebrate the launch of the Christmas Season, The Irish Times invited over 100 guests from agencies and brands to get hygge with them over breakfast on Tuesday September 26th at the newly opened Roberta’s Restaurant.

With only 90 days to go to Christmas, Managing Director Liam Kavanagh welcomed guests to the inaugural Irish Times Christmas launch, a testament to the importance of this time of year to both advertisers and publishers.

Highlighting The Irish Times Audience First approach, Orna Mulcahy hosted a panel discussion with journalists Conor Pope, Róisín Ingle and Patrick Freyne, giving a sneak peek into how the magic happens behind the scenes at The Irish Times in the run up to Christmas and into the New Year.

High points of the discussion were reflections on Christmas Past where Patrick Freyne remembered being commissioned to write a Christmas Number 1 song and Conor Pope lamented the arduous task of reporting from the front line in taste-testing the best of Christmas fare.

Róisín Ingle spoke about the importance of providing both light and shade in these sobering times and the energy and passion which goes into creating content. Audience insights were delivered by Cliona Mooney, Head of Data Analytics, with a key nugget being that in 2016, Irish Times readers accounted for 30% of the Republic of Ireland’s Christmas gift spend.

To get into the festive mood, guests were treated to Christmas cocktails and breakfast, with an “in-tree-guing” surprise appearance from two of Dublin’s chattiest Christmas trees.

Guests popped crackers and caught up with The Irish Times Media Solutions team who are collaborating with agencies and brands on how to engage the multi-platform audience of The Irish Times during this most wonderful time of the year.