Guinness makes St Patrick's the friendliest day of the year

St Patrick's Day is set to be the friendliest day of the year if a Guinness campaign to encourage drinkers to 'share a smile' proves successful.

Diageo GB will be supporting publicans by distributing 16,500 point-of-sale (PoS) kits, all themed around 'the friendliest day of the year'.

Each kit will include promotional Guinness hats, an inflatable pint of Guinness, staff t-shirts, Guinness flags, decorative bunting and banners, themed balloons, a window sticker, a promotional poster, branded drip mats, and an empty belly poster for pubs to advertise their own individual celebrations and events.

Paul Cornell, Guinness marketing manager said: "We estimate that one million extra people will visit the on-trade during the week of St Patrick's Day and that this will generate £2.5m extra cash for the trade."

Diageo is also hoping this year will be a bumper year for pubs celebrating the occasion as it falls two days before the Ireland v England game in the Six Nations Rugby Championship, of which Guinness is an official sponsor. Guinness is encouraging licensees to make the most of the double sales opportunity by hosting celebrations that run through to the weekend to coincide with the game.

Guinness will also send out over 9,000 PoS kits to pubs, containing rugby themed posters, bar runners and drip mats.

• To order a kit, go to www.diageopos.com​