Jameson’s limited edition bottle returns

Pernod Ricard premium Irish whiskey brand Jameson is bringing back its signature limited edition silver bottle as part of a range of off- and on-trade activity to celebrate St Patrick’s Day 2010.

The stylish silver sleeve with eye-catching detail and embellishment along the base and bottle neck adds a modern twist to the brand's Irish heritage, which, the company says, has successfully proven to recruit younger adult consumers to the brand.

The limited edition bottle launched in the off-trade at the beginning of March to coincide with the run up to St Patricks Day (RRP £17.56). It will be available at all major multiples, convenience and independent stores, as well as select wholesale cash and carry outlets.

Patrick Venning, head of marketing for Jameson at Pernod Ricard UK, comments: “Our back-by-popular demand limited edition bottle reinforces Jameson’s credentials as a premium, modern and stylish whiskey. St. Patrick’s Day is such an important time for the trade, and we’re looking to provide them with the chance to capitalise on the strong sales opportunity it presents. We think that this distinctive limited edition bottle will help fulfil the revenue potential in the off-trade.”

In the on-trade, Jameson is encouraging consumers to ‘Go Green’ and try something new this St Patrick’s Day, by promoting the No 1 Irish whiskey’s signature drink - the Irish Mule. The cocktail is created with Jameson Irish whiskey, ginger beer, fresh lime juice, Angostura bitters and finished with a wedge of lime.

This coincides with another wave of the highly-successful ‘Discover Jameson’ sampling campaign, which will run up until March 17th, targeting 150 outlets across the capital to deliver 8,000 samples. The activity will culminate on St Patrick’s Day with sampling in seven quality bars across London. This latest burst of sampling activity follows on from the campaign’s success at the end of last year, which saw the ‘Discover Jameson’ Sampling Bar & ‘Easygoing Irish’ Brand Ambassadors set up across 180 bars in and around London to drive trial of Jameson among 25-34 year old males – encouraging them to make Jameson part of their drinking repertoire.

The Discover Jameson sampling experience combines an eye-catching portable bar with quality mixed drinks and a team of native-Irish ambassadors. This is a truly contemporary and premium on-trade sampling experience which is at the core of the campaign’s overwhelming success. Last year’s campaign ran for eight weeks, during which 252 live sampling events took place with nearly 19,000 samples served in total.

Venning adds: “The second wave of our targeted sampling campaign will further drive consumer awareness in the on-trade. This, combined with our other activities, will add up to a great St. Patrick's Day for everyone.”

Inspired by the brand’s ongoing engagement with film, other St. Patrick’s Day initiatives for Jameson include a screening of the Bafta-awarded sci-fi hit Moon. This will be shown at London’s Royal Institution as part of the brand’s Jameson Cult Film Club. Jameson is also sponsoring the prestigious Jameson Empire Awards for a second year running, as well as the ‘Jameson Icon Award,’ which recognises a truly inspirational and outstanding actor in the film industry. The brand is also organising Empire’s international ‘Done in Sixty Seconds’ competition where budding film makers are invited to re-create animated one-minute masterpieces of classic films. A judging panel including director Edgar Wright and actor Jason Isaacs will be choosing a winner on March 24th from a list of finalists.

1 March 2010 - Felicity Murray