By Andrew Starke
Guinness will tomorrow continue its long association with St Patrick’s Day by incorporating some very modern accessories: an iPhone app and its Black List website.
The lead up to St Patrick’s Day on March 17 is the most important sales period for Guinness and Diageo Australia hopes to make the 2011 the biggest yet for fans of the ‘black stuff’.
Diageo Australia has also assisted the off and on-premise trade with increased Guinness brand visibility and promotional activity in the lead-up to the big day.
This year consumers will have no excuse for not locating venues selling Guinness as the Black List website has added a Black List iPhone app to enable those planning an evening at the pub to find their nearest Guinness venue.
At the same time they can register for ‘The Perfect Pint Promotion’ and a chance to win a round of ‘perfect pints’ and a trip to the home of Guinness, Ireland, with three mates.
In addition, Wotif is partnering with Guinness to provide winners with accommodation vouchers and Guinness merchandise packs will also be up for grabs.
To bolster numbers, visitors to the Black List website can create a custom invitation to send to their mates inviting them to one of the Guinness St Pat’s Day venues.
Through the portal they can send it to as many friends as they like via social media networks such as Facebook.
The top Guinness on-premise outlets nationally will also be provided with Guinness St Patrick’s Day Pint hats and sunglasses to reward consumers who choose to celebrate with Guinness on St Patrick Day.
The top 150 Guinness venues have each received POS material and a St Pat’s Day theming kit including staff t-shirts, bunting, DL and A4 cards, pillar posters, font wobblers, flags, tattoos and balloons.
“This year St Patrick’s Day is more exciting than ever for Guinness with the Black List leveraging full social media activation,” said Guinness marketing manager Sam Reid.
“In addition, we traditionally support the official St Pat’s Day parade in Sydney and this year is no exception.
"It’s the most important day of the year for Ireland’s favourite beer and the trade can expect to see top level support in the form of increased brand visibility and activity leading up to the day and continuing until the end of April.
“St Patrick’s Day is the prime opportunity for our key retail customers to enjoy incremental sales from the Guinness brand.”