Instagram Marketing for This Year’s St. Patrick’s Day Promotions

When trying to reach today’s consumers, brands are taking to Instagram marketing to debut their launch. That’s no different with St. Patrick’s Day product lines. As a marketer and lover of St. Patrick’s Day, I was curious to see how the world’s top brands are gearing up for the big day.

After some research, it’s not all green beers and leprechauns; it’s well thought out posts that bring together both the holidays and their brand’s offerings. I took to our Synthesio Social Listening Platform to measure the impact of Jameson, Lucky Charms, Guinness, McDonald’s, and Primark, a few of the many brands I noticed that are making a splash through Instagram marketing. Conveniently, I will be in Dublin for this year’s festivities and am looking forward to seeing the involvement of these brands.

After using the Synthesio Social Listening Platform, I was able to measure the breakdown of each brand to see who was bringing in the most attention about their brand on social media. Leading Irish whiskey, Jameson, brought in more than half of the total mentions while leaving Irish retailer, Primark, at the way bottom of the list.

Measuring the breakdown of brands during campaigns allows brands to get a full picture of their relevance against competitors, and measure the success of campaigns.

Jameson

It’s not a secret that Jameson is a champion of whiskey, and in fact, they’re responsible for 70% of all whiskey sales worldwide. It’s pretty uncommon to go to a bar and not see Jameson as a liquor option.

As an Irish whiskey, Jameson comes full force for St. Patrick’s Day. This year’s campaign focuses on promoting local bars with their go-to hashtag: #LoveThyBar. The fully fleshed out campaign includes sweepstakes, Jameson promotions, and parties. During this campaign, consumers can connect with Jameson directly on Facebook Messenger and receive free Jameson drinks.

Guinness

With the help of Iris Singapore, Guinness is promoting their All Hail Patricks campaign where they are using St. Patrick’s Day this year to celebrate those with a name that includes “Pat” – whether it’s Patrick, Patricia, etc. Throughout March, anyone with one of the participating names gets discounts through Grab, Redmart, and free Guinness pints at participating bars.

Lucky Charms

Their mascot is a leprechaun, and their product includes pots of gold, rainbows, and four leaf clovers. I don’t know if there’s more of a St. Patrick’s themed company. For this year, Lucky Charms is selling five different limited editions of St. Patrick’s Day boxes. If consumers collect all five boxes, they have a chance at unlocking a magical treasure.

McDonald’s

McDonald’s lovers can’t say no to a Shamrock Shake. One comment on this post said, “Make this permanent, and you’ll have me coming every day.” That’s proof of a well sought after product, so McDonald’s brings back the Shamrock Shake year after year around the time of St. Patrick’s Day.

This holiday shake originated in 1970 and has been making its return for about 50 years now. Made of soft-serve ice cream, mint syrup, and a whipped topping, consumers turn to social media to express their love for the concoction.

Primark

Although Primark received less than 1% of the total topic mention breakdown, everyone always needs the right themed outfit to aid in the celebrations. How could you ring in the festivities for St. Patrick’s Day without a bright green shirt with a pot of gold on it?

Irish retailer, Primark, is promoting their line of clothes for St. Patrick’s day, and even some outerwear for the little ones.