Stirring up tradition: how Kahlúa is reimagining a St. Patrick’s Day ritual

But over the past few years, Kahlúa has taken a different approach, bringing the Espresso Martini into the moment with playful, unexpected ideas that expand who gets to participate.

This year’s campaign, Split the Silent G, reinterprets one of the most recognisable St. Patrick’s Day traditions and invites more people to take part in the moment, while staying true to the brand’s mischievous spirit.

We sat down with Don Cheney, Senior Brand Manager: Social Media for Kahlúa to talk about the thinking behind the campaign, the role of creators, and what it takes for a brand to authentically earn a place in cultural moments.

What sparked the idea of bringing the Espresso Martini into a moment traditionally dominated by stout? 

It’s really been a three-year journey. The initial spark came from our lead creative agency, Wiederman and Kennedy who noticed that the top of a stout and the top of an Espresso Martini look awfully similar. From there, the idea was to have some fun with that and suggest you can choose one instead of the other.

It felt like a bold, sightly mischievous way to play with expectations.

So, in year one, the team played with that bait-and-switch idea. You think you’re seeing someone drink a stout, but actually it’s an Espresso Martini. 

Year two built on that with the Schneaky Espresso Martini glass that looked like a stout glass but had a hidden Espresso Martini glass inside it. It followed the same playful formula, you don’t see it coming and that’s where the humour lands.

What made the Splitting the G ritual such a compelling starting point for this year’s campaign?

The team had investigated the biggest and most fundamental St. Patrick’s Day moments and behaviours. Splitting the G is stood out as one of the most iconic. We’d actually explored the idea in previous years, but hadn’t found a good way to reference that ritual authentically for the brand.

As we went deeper into cultural connections around stout and Irish traditions, our social agency realised that in Gaelic, adding a GH to the name – creating Kahlúágh – still sounds the same.

That really opened the door to referencing the tradition of Splitting the G through the Kahlúa name itself. So, we created glasses with the new Irish spelling logo and worked with content creators to show the liquid line landing across the G in Kahlúágh.

Why expand the tradition rather than challenge it?

That gets to the root of what we’re doing this year. We were seeing a lot of content creators – mostly female – pouring Espresso Martinis into stout glasses so they could blend in with other groups.

It revealed an interesting cultural truth: not everybody loves stout, but everybody wants to be part of the moment.

So, the idea became about letting more people participate in that moment. 

This is also reflected in the creators we’re working with. We have the “stout lads” who are closely tied to those traditions, but we also have creators from the cocktail world – the espresso martini girlies – who were actually part of the internet behaviour that sparked this insight in the first place.

How did you approach selecting creators who could help the idea travel organically across social platforms?

With social content, it’s really about finding creators who fit the idea. We wanted people who were comfortable with being a little provocative, a little silly, and who understood the whole thing is a bit tongue-in-cheek. Sometimes the creators have to be the joke themselves, you think the video is going in one direction, and then suddenly it flips somewhere else.

This only works when creators stay true to themselves and their audience. If the content feels natural to them, it tends to land so much better.

This campaign also marks another milestone for the group because it’s the first content we’re using to launch Kahlúa on TikTok organically. It felt like the right moment to introduce the brand on the platform with something inherently social and creator-driven.

How important was it to work with Irish creators specifically?

Very important. Because we’re referencing Irish language and traditions, we wanted to make sure the tone landed in the right way and that people felt we were laughing together rather than misusing something culturally.

The feedback from Irish creators has been really positive. They understand the humour and the intention behind it, which gave us a lot of confidence in the idea and helped validate the concept.

What does it take for a campaign to genuinely earn its place in a cultural moment like St. Patrick’s Day?

Authenticity is a huge part of it. 

There has to be something genuinely unique about the idea, and it has to feel true to the brand.

It’s very hard to fake that nowadays when everything is so transparent online. We’re also very clear about what we are and what we are not. Kahlúa is a Mexican brand from Veracruz, and there’s a lot of playfulness and drama inherent in the brand and its Mexican spirit. 

So, when we show up in a moment like St. Patrick’s Day, our role is not to pretend we’re Irish. It’s to bring that quintessential Kahlúa energy – to be a little cheeky, a little silly, and turn things on their head.

If we can surprise people and make them smile, then we’re adding something new to that moment.

Any tips for Splitting the Silent G?

One thing we were very deliberate about is the glass design. The Kahlúágh G sits quite high up, so it only takes a small sip to move the liquid and land it on the letter. Compared to the traditional version, Splitting the Silent G is more about finesse than anything else.