Events

How Four Brands are Marking St. Patrick’s Day 2024 with Experiential Shenanigans

marketingcawpuser 2 months ago 4 min read

Like a wee leprechaun, St. Patrick’s Day is hiding just around the corner, and brands are preparing to celebrate with a host of shenanigans. While some companies are ensuring consumers will get home safely after a long day of drinking green beer on the March 17 holiday, others are popping up with stunts and themed activations this year. Grab a pint and let’s dig in.

JAMESON’S ‘ST. PATRICK’S EVE’ SPECTACLE

We’re all accustomed to watching the ball drop in Times Square on New Year’s Eve, but Jameson is introducing a new spectacle inspired by the tradition. Enter: St. Patrick’s Eve. To make up for Leap Year “stealing” a Saturday St. Patrick’s Day from revelers this year, the whisky brand created its very own holiday.

Consumers could visit a microsite in the weeks leading up to the March 16 event to enter for a chance to snag a spot at the New York City event. The activation is slated to feature a “rock drop” moment (Jameson’s version of the ball drop) in Times Square at 8 p.m. ET, which is midnight in Ireland. The event will be hosted by comedians Colin Jost and Michael Che, and include branded giveaways. Fans at home can get in on the celebrations, too, by streaming the activation on JamesonSPE.com.

Fans also had an opportunity to win a trip for themselves and a friend to the St. Patrick’s Eve event for an invitation-only party featuring a surprise dj performance and a roster of A-list guests. Rounding things out, Jameson has dropped 200 limited-edition St. Patrick’s Eve jackets, the proceeds of which will be donated to the Restaurant Workers’ Community Fund.

Beyond St. Patrick’s Eve, Jameson will illuminate the Sphere in Las Vegas in its signature green, wrap ferries and water taxis in the Chicago River for the city’s St. Patrick’s Day 2024 parade, and enact a digital takeover of the L.A. Live entertainment complex.

More Holiday-themed Activations:

‘LUCKY SUNDAYS’ WITH GUINNESS

Guinness geared up for St. Patrick’s Day in advance of the occasion with its Lucky Sundays campaign, which promised to provide consumers around the U.S. with a chance to “experience the magic of the season firsthand.” On four Sundays leading up to the holiday, Guinness dropped into select cities to host themed events.

The campaign kicked off on Feb. 18 with football legend Joe Montana, who helped host the first Lucky Sundays Guinness Gives Back community service event at Baltimore’s Guinness Open Gate Brewery, which benefitted the Maryland Food Bank.

Subsequent experiences included a Guinness Gives Back event in Cincinnati, OH, on March 3 featuring Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow; and a Lucky Sundays Brunch on March 3 with chef Dennis Prescott in Charleston, SC. A Lucky Sundays Brunch with James Beard Award-winning chef Kwame Onwuachi in Brooklyn, NY, is planned for March 10.

In addition to the Lucky Sundays program, Guinness is returning as the official sponsor of the Chicago River dyeing, and as a sponsor of the city’s St. Patrick’s Day parade, on March 16; hosting an Irish Village celebration at Open Gate Brewery on March 9, and the weekend of the official holiday; sponsoring parades in NYC, Boston and Savannah; and teaming up with alcoholic ice cream-maker Tipsy Scoop on a limited-edition flavor so that fans can make Lucky Sundaes. Agency: Taylor Strategy.

LUCKY CHARMS’ LEPRECHAUN TRAPS

Lucky Charms invited families to hone their leprechaun-trapping skills before the holiday this year. Indeed, the cereal brand’s iconic mascot, Lucky the Leprechaun, went “missing” from boxes of limited-edition Lucky Charms in February, and consumers are invited to help catch him before March 17 via “leprechaun traps” built into the back of the boxes. Fans are encouraged to collect all four versions of the trap, or DIY their own ruse. The brand additionally partnered with Hasbro to develop the “Lucky’s Leprechaun Trap” board game, inspired by the family classic, “Mouse Trap.”

To give the campaign a boost, Lucky Charms dropped a leprechaun-trap installation on an ice-fishing lake in Minneapolis and on a beach in Miami, both marked by “Lucky Was Here” signs, and a few “magical” clues left behind. The mascot also made his way to the set of ABC’s “American Idol” before escaping yet again.

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VINYL LISTENING SESSIONS WITH ROE & CO

Roe & Co, an Irish whisky distillery owned by Diageo, focused on creating connections within the local community for St. Patrick’s Day 2024. From March 1-3, the brand brought a pop-up vinyl event series to iconic record stores in New York City.

The “Roe & Co Listening Sessions,” curated by head distiller and part-time dj Lora Hemy, aimed to unite consumers over cocktails and their love of vinyl at the Brooklyn Record Exchange and Superior Elevation Records. In addition to the listening sessions, attendees were treated to performances by local talent that “captured the spirit of Dublin” and blended modern Irish sounds with traditional tunes. Sláinte. Agency: Taylor Strategy.