• by Erik Oster , February 26, 2024

Thanks to Leap Year, St. Patrick’s Day will skip over Saturday and fall on a Sunday in 2024. Noting this, Pernod-Ricard’s Jameson Irish Whiskey concocted a solution. To promote Saturday revelry that won’t lead to a Monday morning hangover, the brand is introducing a real (fake) holiday: St. Patrick’s Day Eve.

The concept is self-explanatory, with the brand encouraging audiences to celebrate on Saturday March 16 instead of, or in addition to, the March 17 holiday. To promote the idea, the brand enlisted “Saturday Night Live” comedians Michael Che and Colin Jost to host a Times Square event on March 16, as well as appearing in content championing the new (fake) holiday.

In a statement, Jameson vice president of marketing Johan Radojewski explained that the approach relates to its “Must be a Jameson” campaign designed to honor “a community anchored by their shared lighthearted spirit, so when Leap Year skipped over a Saturday St. Patrick's Day, we did exactly what a Jameson would do: we created a completely new holiday so people can start celebrating St. Patrick's Day a little early.”

Che and Jost star in light-hearted spots addressing the Leap Year issue and the “St. Patrick’s Eve” solution.

"Colin is also probably a little relieved we're going to spend a Saturday night ringing in St. Patrick's Eve with Jameson, instead of reading the jokes I write for him,” Che added

The March 16 Times Square takeover party co-hosted by Che and Jost will feature a surprise DJ performance, along with the brand’s spin on the annual New Year’s Eve Times Square ball drop celebration: a “rock drop” at  8 p.m. (midnight in Ireland). The brand will be live-streaming the event from a dedicated website.

Additionally, Jameson is releasing a limited-edition series of vintage-inspired jackets in honor of “St. Patrick’s Eve.” Featuring a design that includes a hidden inner pocket designed to hold a Jameson hip flask (included with an order of the $150 jacket), proceeds from sales of the jacket will benefit the Restaurant Workers' Community Fund nonprofit, which advocates on behalf of food and beverage service industry workers.