For Immediate Release
3/8/2018
New Jersey/Dublin, Ireland - Lenox Consulting and Publitics partnered with EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum in Dublin, to take a deeper look at the past, present and future of Ireland’s special relationship with America. The museum, in conjunction with Steve Lenox of Lenox Consulting, a boutique public affairs firm with offices in the U.S. and Ireland and Matt Krayton of strategy and communications consultancy, Publitics, released the details of a survey on American perceptions of St. Patrick’s Day and the Ireland-U.S. relationship.
“We saw St. Patrick’s Day as an opportunity to look at the perceptions Americans have about Ireland and the Irish-American relationship and of course, St. Patrick’s Day itself. It’s clear the bond remains strong,” said Lenox. “The story of the Irish is one of emigration, of moving to new countries and making our home there. The relationship between Ireland and America has been forged in history and a strong link between our peoples still exists today,” said EPIC curator Nathan Mannion.
The survey found that over half of Americans (56%) plan on celebrating St. Patrick’s Day. Of those celebrating, roughly 80% will mark the day by wearing green, 44% will cook Irish food at home and 38% will head to a bar or restaurant. Overall, St. Patrick’s Day celebrations create positive impressions or Ireland and Irish culture for just over half of Americans.
“Irish immigrants have made a sizable imprint on American history and society, so it’s no surprise that Americans have very positive feelings toward Ireland,” said
Ireland and the United States enjoy a special connection. As St. Patrick’s Day approaches, so too does an opportunity to explore perceptions of the Ireland-United States relationship in the United States.
In the survey, we found that about one-quarter identify as Irish-American. (Note: around 10% of Americans listed Irish ancestry on the American Community Survey. On the ACS respondents are asked to write in their ancestry whereas on our survey, we asked a yes/no question, which could account for the difference.)
Over half of Americans, according to a new Publitics/Lenox Consulting survey, plan to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. Of those who plan to celebrate, the most popular ways to mark the day will be wearing green (80%), cooking Irish food at home (44%) and heading to a bar or restaurant (38%).
Similarly, over half (56%) reported that St. Patrick’s Day celebrations create positive impressions of Ireland and Irish culture in their communities.
Because such a wide swath of Americans annually make plans to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day and view the holiday favorably, there is an enormous opening to further introduce Irish brands to the American consumer.
Outreach efforts, such as the #WearingIrish campaign, have taken advantage of the platform St. Patrick’s season creates in the U.S. by moving beyond “wearing green,” and showcasing Irish clothing and accessory designers, while events like Fareplate focus on showcasing Irish food.
When looking at the Irish brand itself, it receives high marks, with 84% of Americans reporting that they have a favorable impression of the country.
When it comes to the
Monday, April 3, 2017
24 Hours Before Departure
While I gladly accepted the invitation of a good friend to visit Hong Kong, I'm not sure I totally thought through the enormity of the trip. A seasoned traveler for sure, this one brought much more than just an overnight flight across the Atlantic, and a time difference leaving few hours I wouldn't be awake with my clients back in the US.
I researched, studied, and of course took to social media to connect with others in the part of the world I'd be visiting, hoping to make my time there as worthwhile and memorable as possible, yet I felt I still had little comprehension of what I was really in for!
With meetings scheduled with various organizations whose remit, to connect globally through business, mirror my own efforts and interests, and invitations to more than one social event, my calendar for this very brief trip was already well full. I hoped, of course, to take in some of the sights as well!
I was grateful for the opportunity to meet Anthony Mak, Director of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council’s New York office, for a bit of pre-planning, and for his introductions to his colleagues in Hong Kong whom I'll meet on this trip.
Tuesday, April 4, 2017
Waiting for Take Off
Well positioned in my seat (bulkhead leaving me plenty of leg room), and staking claim to both arm rests, I was as anxious about who my row mates would be as I was about what the next
There are few certainties in life. Sure, we know “the house always wins,” the U.S. Postal service delivers despite rain, sleet, snow or hail, and that when snow is in the forecast, worried shoppers will run to the supermarket to buy bread and milk. Here in New Jersey, we can add one more certainty to that list: no matter what else is going on in the world around us, cities and towns across the state will “go green” and attract large crowds in celebration of St. Patrick’s Day.
With this in mind coupled with very specific Irish familial and business interests and an ongoing desire to use data as a means to inform our work, we set out to determine just how connected New Jersey is to Ireland, and how St. Patrick’s Day celebrations across our state inform and effect views of Ireland. To that end, we conducted an online survey of 700 New Jersey adults.
According to Census data, an estimated 13% of all New Jerseyeans identify their ancestry as Irish. In our survey, we found that just over 20% of respondents identified themselves as Irish-American (the proximity of St. Patrick’s Day and the way in which we asked the question likely explains the difference). This increased self-identification as Irish in the days leading up to St. Patrick’s Day also lends more credence to the belief that often times one’s connection to Ireland can be as much emotional as it is through actual ancestral and family ties.
Ireland also enjoys high
Visiting the New Jersey Statehouse with the New Jersey State FMBA on consecutive session days again reminded me of the out-sized role the union is playing in the lives of their members, both statewide and at the local level. It fills me with pride to be part of such awesome efforts, and to work alongside men and women that risk their lives for others on a daily basis as part of their “real” jobs, while they also go to great lengths to bring about important change that elected officials and politicians have been unable or unwilling to effectuate alone.
Senate Bill 3040, sponsored by Senate President Stephen Sweeney, offers historic changes to the pension system that local firefighters and police officers throughout New Jersey contribute to throughout their careers, and rely on for their retirement security. While the near unanimous, bipartisan, passing of the bill by the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee, and then unanimous support by the full Senate, is what most intrigued the press, it is the manner in which this legislation came to fruition that really tells the story of what the NJ FMBA does for members, and our state, on a day in and day out basis.
For more than two years the NJ FMBA, led by Eddie Donnelly and Rich Mikutsky, have researched similar policies in other states, educated and involved their members about the benefits of this drastic change, and worked tirelessly to make it a bipartisan effort with buy in from all four unions whose
