Guinness has been a huge success story in the US. It is the second biggest market for the brand in the world, outstripped only by the UK. More Guinness is now sold in the US than in Ireland itself.

But despite this, in the US, many people think of Guinness as a dark beer served in even darker Irish pubs. We had the chance to use our biggest sales moment of the year, St. Patrick’s Day, to do something audacious that would change perceptions of this iconic brand.

How could we use the opportunity of the attention we get on St. Patrick's Day to challenge perceptions of the brand for the rest of the year? How could we use our Irish-ness to embrace anyone and everyone, making them feel like they can be a part of this brand, whoever they are and wherever they’re from?

At the perfect time, one of our biggest fans (who also happens to be one of the world’s biggest stars) burst through our door with an idea - to share the story of his love of Guinness.

Jason Momoa had a vision to lighten up the world of Guinness by using one of the most famous lines in the history of the brand: “Lovely day For A Guinness.” He would show Guinness in places we had never been, making a flat-out action film, with laughs along the way, escaping the dark pubs and bursting into the sunshine, cold Guinness in hand, friends by his side.

Many brands might be concerned about not having the control they are used to, but this is Guinness. We knew the right approach was to give Jason the chance to realize his vision.

This wasn’t a traditional ad campaign, so we launched it like a feature film. We got an exclusive with the Today Show and teased our audience with behind-the-scenes footage. We premiered our movie at an exclusive NY event, followed by a media tour for Jason the next day.

Our overall key message to media centered on how singular the Guinness-Momoa “Lovely Day” campaign was, and we flexed in different elements depending on the target vertical: Guinness and Momoa officially working together after 10+ years of mutual love…Momoa’s role as co-writer, co-director, producer AND star…Momoa casting his friends and family in the spot, including his mother.

With the director’s cut as the true hero, we thoughtfully tailored the context to target entertainment, lifestyle, business/trade and general interest media, which allowed us to reach Jason Momoa fans, Guinness fans and everyone at the intersection of those key groups.

Our PR rollout went like this:

Feb. 27: Secured high impact, general interest exclusive with TODAY.com to announce the new Guinness-Momoa partnership (without revealing the new ad)

Mar. 5: Hosted a VIP, in-person event at an exclusive NYC location (Zero Bond) with top-tier media in our target verticals, lifestyle influencers and brand stakeholders in attendance. Aired the director’s cut of the new ad in public for the first time, allowing for earned social media to hit organically.

Mar. 6: Issued a national press release announcing and showing the new ad, followed by a virtual 1:1 media tour for our top media targets with Momoa (who was in New Zealand), creating unique stories that continued to run for a full week after our launch, each time re-invigorating pickup coverage and conversation

All of the above purposely spiked and culminated just in time for St. Patrick’s Day.

Our strategy of putting one of our biggest fans in charge of our brand, for our biggest sales moment of the year, paid off.

The news of the film delivered 14.1bn media impressions, making it the most newsworthy Guinness US campaign of all time. The teaser post in Instagram has the highest overall reach of any social post the brand has ever done. The video itself is the most commented on piece of content we have ever created, delivering unprecedented levels of brand engagement.

Alongside this was extraordinary sales success. 2024 was our biggest St Patrick’s Day weekend ever, selling 3m pints of Guinness in the US. All showing that trusting your fans with your brand is sometimes the smartest thing to do.