Sobering Lessons From St. Patrick's Day

When I was a kid, St. Patrick’s Day was filled with shamrocks, corned beef and cabbage, green everything, and feeling lucky. As I got older, I realized feeling “lucky” was code for feeling full of Guinness and cabbage only tastes good after you’ve had a little whiskey.

St. Patrick’s Day in the United States has progressively become a more and more booze-filled holiday. A day originally celebrated by Catholics to honor the Feast of St. Patrick, the observers were permitted to give up their Lenten obligations for one day to celebrate. For Catholics, Lent, or the few weeks leading up to Easter, has “Lenten obligations” that include giving up alcohol, meat on Fridays, and any personal indulgences. On St. Patrick’s Day, though, they can have all of this.

Catholics, therefore, began treating St. Patrick’s Day as a break from being “good.” They could let go and eat, drink, and be merry.

Seeing as how much fun this day of holy observance was, non-Catholics began adopting the day as a holiday as well. Over time, parades popped up, parties got rowdy, and nightlife got out of control. The day strayed from its original intentions and become a wonderfully joyful day for anyone to enjoy—Irish or non-Irish, Catholic or non-practicing.

This is how the once niche day of celebration has become a cultural phenomenon, one many Americans look forward to every year. Despite the traditions of wearing green and getting drunk, however, some customers have expressed a desire to stay sober during this intoxicating holiday.

In fact, over the last decade, the percentage of young people that binge drink has been on the decline. In 2005, the percentage of 16 to 24-year-olds that did not drink alcohol was a measly 18%. In 2015, this went up to 29%. Furthermore, alcohol consumption worldwide has fallen by 5% since 2000, a rate that is likely to increase in the upcoming decades.

Many brands and entrepreneurs are responding to this, developing a rising number of non-alcoholic beverages and “mocktail” additives. In fact, according to NIQ, a company dedicated to identifying consumer buying trends and behavior, “Non-alcohol products are seeing a 19% increase in dollar sales, whereas total alcohol sales are down 6.7%. Within this new year, non-alcohol products are already showing heightened share with 0.5% share of total alcohol sales, compared to 0.4% during the same time last year.” Those percentages may not seem like much, but they were rates that were, until very recently, consistently in the negative. This change is telling.

So what does this mean for a holiday that is usually spent drinking, drinking, and, well, drinking? Some businesses believe there should be no change: why break a working system? Others, however, are using this data to drive sober options for the dry-curious St. Patrick’s Day celebrators.

The New York Times identified a few places across the nation to gather without pressure to drink:

1. Great Falls, Montana: Luna Coffee Bar is hosting a holiday-themed trivia night.
2. Sonoma, California: Good Times Alc. Free, a group that throws alcohol-free pop-up parties, will hold a St. Patrick’s Day party at a coffee roaster.
3. New York City, New York: A NYC-based group, Sober St. Patrick’s Day, is striving to make the holiday more about Irish culture and less about binge drinking as they march in the annual parade on Fifth Avenue.

These events don’t include the large number of bars that will be serving alcohol-free products from classic brands like Guinness, Heineken, and Bailey’s, along with newer alcohol-free brands like Kentucky 74, Lyre’s, and Betty Buzz.

If you or your brand doesn’t do much to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, why does this matter to you?

Changing traditions is scary, especially with something as classic and typical as how people celebrate a holiday. However, by using a mix of qualitative and quantitative data, you may find that customers are asking for change. To keep your brand relevant, customer-centric, and up-to-date on trends, it’s crucial to constantly review data. Sometimes, it may tell you something surprising.

Header Photo by Des Récits on Unsplash  

First Photo by Johnny Cohen on Unsplash  

Second Photo by Artur Ament on Unsplash  

Third Photo by Autumn Martin on Unsplash