Another Saint Patrick's day has come and gone and for some the effects can still be felt both from financial sense and physical sense. In Dublin alone,over the weekend, there was an estimated 500,000 people lining the streets to watch the parade with an Irish diaspora of around 70 million, major cities across the globe were also holding their green-inspired galas. The Irish economy benefited,as it has in recent years, from the large number of people coming to take part in the festivities as around 240,000 passengers were expected through Dublin Airport over the bank holiday weekend. Both terminals were decked with balloons and bunting to welcome visitors and jugglers, stilt walkers, bands and school children will give the travelers a taste of the roaring revelry they could have expected over the weekend. In recent years Tourism Ireland have undertaken various marketing drives to ensure that the March 17th was celebrated by the Irish diospria around the world by using innovative means of both online and offline marketing.
All around the world various landmarks were lit up green to show the spread of the Irish to each corner of the globe as the Prince’s Palace in Monaco and the Sydney Opera House were lit up in honor of St Patrick, as well as Niagara Falls, the Leaning Tower of Pisa and the Burj al Arab hotel in Dubai. Tourism Ireland’s St Patrick’s Day ‘Greening’ initiative has captured imaginations across the world in recent years, creating buzz and excitement and generating extensive media coverage at little to the actual organisation.
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| Sydney Opera House |
Another example of Tourism Ireland's innovation when it comes to Saint Patricks days advertising can be seen from the Riverdance flashmob video that was released in 2011 and which went onto become a massive viral sensation. The video was made in conjunction with tourism Ireland and Sneaky Steppers from Australia who surprised Commuters in Central Station in Sydney Australia by performing Irish dancing in front of them. The flashmob starts off quietly enough before ending up with 100 people performing the Riverdance routine in a grand finale. By the end of March of 2011 the video was in the top 10 most viewed videos on the Contagious Viral chart.
But it isn't just tourism Ireland who have, in recent years, used Saint Patrick's day as a means of appealing to the Irish population at home and abroad. With over 90% of Americans alone saying that they plan to celebrate the day, many brands have seen the date as becoming a key one for both gaining new customers and rewarding existing ones. Angry birds, one of the most successful smartphone games of the last number of years, released a special edition of its game to coincide with March 17th.The St Patrick's Day version of Angry Birds includes shamrocks, pots of gold, a Celtic soundtrack, 'Go Green, Get Lucky' levels and pigs sporting leprechaun hats.
Three of the brands most associated with Ireland have also used this date as a launch pad for many of their marketing events over the last number of years. The ability to create campaigns and advertisements which may go viral has become one of the key elements associated with any output from Guinness, Jameson and Baileys at this time of the year.
Guinness have used their Facebook page in the past number of years as an offline means of driving sales. Virtual gifts are something that are normally free on Facebook and although they do not normally take on the format of adverts one clever campaign by Guinness to mark the250 celebration allowed users to give their friends a free pint of the black stuff which resulted in thousands of people around the world passing each other virtual pints of Guinness and displaying them on their profiles. This year to take part in Guinness’ St Patrick’s Day campaign and join in setting a world record, fans of St Patrick’s Day, Guinness lovers and generally friendly folk can make an online pledge via Facebook or www.guinness.com or join a St Patrick’s Day party to celebrate true Irish friendliness.
From a viral view point Guinness have been one of the most shared brands on www.Youtube.com over the last number of years with the number one shared Guinness ad having over 64,756 shares all-time and nearly 2 million views on YouTube since the launch of the ad. Their most recent ad has gone viral thanks to its unique take on a night out. The ad features a group of befuddled-looking male mates being guided into a pub by a specialised sheepdog. Along the way they are herded away from other distractions such as a night in watching the big game, an indian restaurant and a nightclub where scantily-clad girls dance enticingly.
The most popular Irish brand on Facebook, with over one million user is Baileys and they launched a novel means of Saint Patricks day fan engagement over this period. The US Baileys site has the most traffic and so it encouraged fans to send their friends a Kiss Me I´m Irish customized photo to win a free Baileys t-shirt! It engaged Fans all over the world by saying: "Share your love for Baileys Original Irish Cream, because we´re all a little Irish on St. Patrick´s Day!“
The final Irish brand, while has targeted Saint Patrick's Day as one of their key opportunities for brand growth,is Jameson. Jameson decided to hold a huge party taking advantage of several social media platforms. The Jameson Facebook Page launched the Slainte-o-meter motivating Fans to make an authentic Irish toast and spread the word to make them attend the Jameson party in their city or to watch the best of the Jameson Global Party 2012 on YouTube, tune into one of the 35 radio stations from 11 countries broadcasting from the Old Jameson Distillery and to make Fans share the festive atmosphere via Twitter.The official website has also prepared a St. Patrick´s Day Guide including party decorations, cocktail recipes, party banners and even a guide to Irish slang!
But its not just these major brands that have embraced Saint Patrick's Day as a means to reach a larger target audience. Over the weekend if you visited the Facebook pages of 4FM, RTE Player, Visit Dublin and the 2FM DJ Rick O'Shea they had rearranged their Facebook timeline pictures to show their festive side while Renault Ireland did not go as far as redesigning their website they did alter their profile page to include a shamrock on their logo.
As the dust has settled on another Saint Patricks day many people are returning to their normal daily routines albeit with some sore heads and some sore limbs from all the celebrating. Most people will have either seen or attended a parade at some point during the festivities as well as donned some shade of green to showcase their Irishness. But it was the digital shadow cast by certain brands which could potentially have the greatest impact on how people recall the whole period. Brands such as Guinness and Jameson have chosen to take advantage of this holiday´s social media potential by targeting through their respective Facebook pages while Tourism Ireland have chosen to target through both on and offline methods.
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