Lion heads to the pub for a Guinness on St Patrick's Day

A pint of Guinness on St Patrick's Day is an annual must-do for beer lovers around the world but one that has had the brakes put on it these past two years.

Pre-COVID, it was an annual tradition for the whole team at Lion. They would break out into teams and head to pubs throughout the CBD every St Patrick's Day and spend the afternoon connecting with consumers, handing out Guinness merchandise and shouting a few rounds for the punters.

This year, Lion was so excited about being able to take a moment to connect at the pub, it launched a campaign encouraging office workers around the country to switch on the Out Of Office and do the same.

Connections Director Ed Stening said, “St Patrick's Day is the ultimate moment to come together with a pint of Guinness, and after the last 3 years of Covid interruptions, we’ve never been more excited to turn on the Out of Office and get into a pub for the day.”

Employees at Lion's York Street office switched on their 'out of offices', broke up into teams and got back into the field on Thursday, supporting their on-premise partners, bars and clubs, particularly those in Sydney's CBD which are yet to return to full speed.

Sydney's Lion team celebrated at PJ O'Briens, The Mercantile, Fortune of War, Maloneys, Hero of Waterloo, Molly Malones, Three Wise Monkeys, Cheers Hotel. The Glebe Hotel and Scruffy McMurphy's.

Mr Stening said, "St Paddy's Day is an opportunity to connect with consumers, learn about what is happening in the on-premise space and get our feet on the ground.

"After what on-premise has gone through, we want to get back out there to support the pubs, bars, clubs and bartenders."

Lion's creative agency Thinkerbell designed the campaign which it describes as Guinness' traditional minimalism with "a Zoom generation twist".

Unfortunately Thinkerbell's Executive Creative Director, Tom Wenborn, was unavailable for comment.

“I’m currently OOO enjoying a pint of Guinness, I’ll be back at my desk Friday 18th March. Please contact Jim Ingram if it’s urgent,” his out of office reply said.