St. Patrick: between marketing and tradition
Every year on 17 March, St. Patrick's Day, the feast day of St. Patrick and patron saint of Ireland, is celebrated and has become a world-famous event, so much so that even The Simpsons devoted an episode to it.
Leprechauns, clovers and the colour green conquer social media, with advertising and marketing campaigns in search of original communication. From a patron saint's day, it becomes an excellent opportunity for brands, especially beer and whisky brands, to make themselves known or to capture the attention of customers. In the homeland of Guiness and Jameson Irish Whisky, it can only be the perfect opportunity to advertise with ad hoc campaigns.
Over the years, we have seen several innovations created in honour of this event, such as the St. Patrick Day Shake recipe created by Baileys.
Guinness and the Lucky Sunday Program
This year, the famous Irish beer brand did not just limit itself to an advertising campaign via social media, but the celebrations went big, and the marketing campaign even started in February.
Taking advantage of the fact that the holiday fell on a Sunday, the brand decided to introduce the 'Lucky Sunday Programme'. What is it all about? The initiative included several activities accessible via a dedicated landing page and an augmented reality experience called 'Guinness Together'.
In addition, Guinness also partnered with Ancestry, the family history tracker, to allow consumers to trace their connections to the famous Guinness Storehouse through digitised records. The Lucky Sundays programme kicked off on 18 February with a collaboration with football icon Joe Montana for a charity event in Baltimore.
But it didn't end there! In addition to the various events in major cities and attended by celebrities from the worlds of sport and cuisine, Guinness has entered into a collaboration with Tipsy Scoop resulting in a limited edition alcoholic ice cream.
Last but not least was the release of the new commercial, on St. Patrick's Day, starring the famous actor Jason Momoa who discovers with relief that he is 2% Irish.
With this kind of comprehensive, multi-pronged campaign, Guinness' aim was to engage consumers both locally and digitally, capitalising on Guinness' association with Irish heritage and the festive spirit of St. Patrick's Day.
Jameson Irish Whisky and St. Patrick's Eve
Another interesting example of how St Patrick's Day has been exploited by brands is the proposal made by Jameson, a famous whisky brand.
Through an advertisement featuring famous SNL actors, the whisky company is coming up with a new holiday, namely: 'St. Patrick's Eve', scheduled for Saturday, 16 March 2024. Recognising the potential negative effect of the holiday falling on a Sunday, Jameson aims to move the holiday to the night before, allowing consumers to celebrate without worrying about work the next day.
To celebrate this new holiday, the brand organised a big party at Time Square with surprise performances.
Lucky Charm - Lucky was here!
St. Patrick's Day is not solely exploited by alcohol brands, however! In this 2024, the cereal brand Lucky Charm - extremely popular abroad - stood out. The brand's famous mascot disappeared from its boxes during the February period.
Lucky Charm therefore invited children and their families to help them catch the leprechaun, before 17 March, by means of special 'traps' set on the back of the packaging. Consumers were incentivised to buy the product by collecting all 4 different types of available leprechaun traps and letting their imagination run wild! In addition, the brand decided to place an installation of leprechaun traps in Minneapolis and on a beach in Miami, both marked with 'Lucky Was Here' signs, and some other 'magic' clues left behind by the leprechaun.
The mascot even went to the set of 'American Idol' before escaping again. The whole thing was of course filmed and reported on the company's social channels.
Using instant marketing to increase brand awareness
Every event can be an opportunity to advertise and make oneself known to the general public; knowing how to exploit St. Patrick's Day is an opportunity for Irish and other businesses.
It is certainly important to keep this date in the calendar to activate ad hoc marketing campaigns using the characteristic elements of Ireland such as the colour green, the leprechaun and the shamrock. And, why not, create new products that can become something typically Irish.
Stop for an Instant!