Jameson Irish Whiskey and Pernod Ricard are Battling the Current Pandemic.

Terrifying… that’s the only word that comes to mind when thinking about the current situation of the world. The COVID-19 pandemic has affected millions of people worldwide and what is even scarier, that no one knows how long this will last, there is no end in sight and it is just getting worse every single day.

Who is affected?

The need for people to self-isolate is clear, but this has an obvious negative impact on millions of jobs and industries which are suffering. This situation is impacting everyone in different ways but one of the industries which is very vulnerable to this virus outbreak is hospitality. With restaurants, bars and hotels closing to prevent the spread of the virus, people are getting laid off and with the hospitality industry, there is no chance for a “home office” and many businesses cannot afford to keep their full staff during this time.

How is Pernod Ricard trying to help?

Jameson Irish Whiskey, a subsidiary of Pernod Ricard has been taking steps in trying to help their industry during this hard time. You might have heard how many global well-known, but even smaller scale distilleries, have started producing disinfectant sprays or sanitizers. As the alcohol content in sanitizers must be over 60% to be effective in killing certain viruses of illness causing bacteria, distilleries producing hard liquor are usually equipped with being able to produce products such as sanitizers.

Pernod Ricard, being one of the world’s largest wine and spirit sellers has decided to use its power, and started producing hand sanitizer. The vice president of North American manufacturing for Pernod Ricard, Melissa Hanesworth came up with the initial idea and within a week, the first batch of sanitizers was produced in Arkansas, USA. The formula for the sanitizer was taken directly from the World Health Organization’s recipe, making sure that the sanitizer is legally and scientifically correct. By the end of March, Pernod Ricard is expected to produce around 5,700 gallons of hand sanitizer per week. Besides that, the company is also donating 70,000 liters of pure alcohol to a French laboratory which is the leading supplier of sanitizing gels for different pharmacies. This amount of alcohol can make up to 1.8 million 50ml bottles of sanitizer.

Every additional bottle of sanitizer is helping the doctors and nurses to stay maybe just a little bit safer during this pandemic. By manufacturing this extremely needed substance, the company is not only helping the world battle the pandemic on the front lines by helping the pharmaceutical industry, but also by creating jobs for the company’s employees, therefore, not having to lay off as many workers as perhaps other businesses have to.

Jameson Irish Whiskey

Jameson Irish Whiskey is trying to help the bartending community by pledging $500,000 to the United States Bartenders’ Guild. This is a great deed, assisting bartenders who have now completely lost their jobs with no new job in sight and trying to support them. Besides trying to help by creating hand sanitizers, in my opinion, it is crucially important that a brand such as Jameson, being part of Pernod Ricard, is trying to directly support its bartending community! The whiskey brand has released an inspirational statement to all bartenders: “To our local bartenders: You’ve always had our backs, and we promise to always have yours,”. Trying to keep the community positive and hopeful for the future even in these hard times is such an important move for any company at the moment.

Keeping St. Patrick's Day alive

As Jameson is a classic Irish whiskey, St. Patrick’s Day on March 17th is one of the most celebrated holidays for the brand. Of course, this year, due to bars shutting down and events being cancelled, Jameson could not “properly” celebrate this holiday with its bartenders and of course, most importantly, with the Jameson whiskey lovers. Instead of socializing, Jameson has been very active on social networks such as Twitter and Instagram, reminding people that St. Patrick’s Day can also be celebrated at home and constantly trying to connect with their customers. Through videos and call-to-action posts such as “St. Patrick’s Day might look a little different today. However, we still want to keep the spirit going. Drop a (shot glass emoji) below to #CheersTogether”, the brand is trying to stay connected to its customers and trying to keep them entertained and perhaps, make this situation a little more bearable.

Jameson using the power of social…

Jameson has also been doing regular live streams on Instagram where they stream cocktail classes “with your neighborhood bartender”. Again, traying to keep the connection going between the customers and the brand. Overall, from Jameson’s social media channels, they have always been quite engaging with their customers, however, now, they have definitely improved and “upped” their game. Creating content that people can comment on or share with friends and creating an even more engaging community, especially with the help of the Instagram live videos which really immerse the viewers into the whole experience. Not only can this be exciting for current lovers of Jameson, but I think that this can also bring in many new potential customers. The art of cocktail making can be very exciting to watch, I am talking from my own observations and I think I will stay tuned on the Jameson’s Instagram page as I am intrigued about how the live stream cocktail making class goes!

In my opinion…

Even though this pandemic, as I said, is terrifying, I think many brands, including Jameson, can learn from this and observe the power of social media and the connection it is able to make with people. Due to the isolation that many people are currently experiencing, anything that makes us feel “normal” or a part of a community is more appreciated than ever. This is a great learning opportunity for many brands, not just liquor brands, to improve their communications over social, and try to build an even stronger relationship with the specific customer base. Besides that, also perhaps focus more on the businesses overall e-commerce. I think Jameson so far is approaching this situation well through supporting their community and of course, the umbrella, Pernod Ricard, manufacturing sanitizers.

Overall, I also think that many businesses are now realizing the incredible power of the online world and might start incorporating more online activity into their day to day business model. This is probably going to be one of the long-term effects of the pandemic, that businesses are going to focus more on the digital communication they have with their customers. Of course, there is so much more to this situation and we shall see how everything develops over time…

In the mean time, everyone please, stay safe and take care of each other!