Creative Planning Awards

Account Planning Group, 16 Creighton Avenue, London N10 1NU, UK Tel: +44 (0)181 444 3692 Fax: +44 (0)181 883 9953

1999

Agency:

Author: Jeremy Thorpe-Woods

Guinness: Good Things Come to Those Who Wait

'Guinness is an extraordinary brand. It is hard to think of a beer which over two centuries has been held in such affection and has, to many around the world, come to symbolise a way of life.' Colin Storm, Managing Director Guinness GB, The book of Guinness advertising 1998 A few days after writing this, Colin Storm was briefing AMV.BBDO to change the 'way of life' that Guinness had come to symbolise. At first sight one might question the sanity of this brief. Guinness is an immense brand with an image, an advertising heritage and a unique consumer relationship which make it the envy of most beers. However, it is because of the unique consumer relationship that Guinness needed to change. While Guinness was adored, it was adored as 'a quiet beer for a cosy pub and a good conversation', an occasional 'restorative' pint. In contrast most young lads, most of the time, were looking for a beer to stimulate a more upbeat and 'buzzy' mood. Consequently Guinness had many occasional drinkers but few who were drinking it regularly. The brief called for advertising to ignite consumption by 'turning up the charge' on Guinness. Our analysis of the brief and of the Guinness brand led us to think about it this way: We thought that the key to answering this brief lay in making Guinness more appropriate for sessions as (with Irish logic) this was the most common occasion when it was not drunk. While it was certainly not front of mind on your average Friday we were sure that it was possible for Guinness to be an upbeat session beer as it is drunk this way on special occasions (Dublin weekends, St Patrick's day, Rugby matches). Guinness' 'mellow', 'chilled out' mood associations were hampering its ability to be front of mind as a session beer. As the brief suggested we had to shift the mood from 'chilled' to 'charged' Thus to popularise Guinness and 'open' the brand to nondrinkers, we would have to change the way people feel about it. Changing the way people feel about an iconic brand such as Guinness is, arguably, more difficult than launching a new brand. This was a huge brief.

A TALE OF TWO BRANDS

Whenever you analyse a brand like Guinness inevitably you start with the advertising. Guinness has a history of brilliant campaigns and Guinness ads are anticipated, consumed, and talked about like no other. It's been this way right from the start. Colin Storm continued his introduction to pay tribute to how advertising had helped to build this extraordinary brand. '...this is due in no small part to the advertising which, arguably without equals has maintained a quality and character so high that it has attracted its own brand loyalty.' Colin Storm, Managing Director Guinness GB, The book of Guinness advertising, 1998 The notion, in the last line, that Guinness advertising 'has attracted its own brand loyalty' opens the door to a problem. While it is not unusual for beer advertising to part company with the product, (much lager advertising for example works this way) it was creating problems for Guinness. We found through our initial qualitative research that Guinness advertising was being consumed separately to the brand. It was almost as if there were two brands, the advertising loved by all, and the beer we're not so sure about. It seems that while we happily consume one we can remain ambivalent about the other. The problem was that in these circumstances the values generated by the advertising were not transferring to the product. We concluded that we had to do more than build the right set of associations for Guinness and allow the consumer to catch on. It was essential that advertising was linked into the core of the brand if we wanted to change it . We needed a brand truth. Earlier advertising had used a brand truth but the problem was that it was too challenging. Both 'The Man with a Guinness' campaign (Rutger Hauer) and 'Not everything in Black and White' focused on Guinness' enigmatic brand personality. While these campaigns were highly creative, discriminating and loved by loyalists, it made the brand appear too challenging for trialists, as if the brand was asking 'are you smart enough to drink me?' Many for whom the brand was already challenging enough, decided they weren't, and drank elsewhere. Clearly the enigmatic nature of the brand was one 'truth' we should avoid because, if overplayed, it limits recruitment by making the brand appear too arrogant (it is a facet of the brand personality not its reason dtre).

WHAT DO WE HAVE IN THE LOCKER?

Creatively Guinness is an enticing brand as there are many things about which you could write ads. For example Guinness has a richer, deeper, bigger taste than any other beer; it has an 'elemental power' (rich deep blackness); Guinness is worth waiting for; it's more convivial and communal than any other pint; Guinness drinkers are smarter, deeper individuals; Guinness is good for you; Guinness 'is Ireland; Guinness is iconic, unique...the list could go on and on. Any of these 'truths' could deliver a distinctive campaign but few immediately offered themselves as a vehicle for 'recharge'. The planning task from this point was to identify the 'brand truth' (or truths) which we could use this way. We started talking to creative teams to generate a shortlist to be explored in qualitative research that evening (it was a pitch after all!). One of these ('proposed' by Tom and Walt the creative team) was the fact that Guinness was the only beer you had to wait for. Initially we were unsure. While we understood that waiting and 'specialness' were linked in the consumer mind and that time taken in preparation is a symbol of quality we suspected that this 'truth' was counter brief as it initiated a winddown mood state ('taking timeout').

IT'S HOW YOU WAIT THAT MATTERS

Much of what we learned that evening reinforced the view that the 'ritual' watching and waiting as your Guinness was poured initiated a 'wind down' which could enhance current associations. However, we suddenly realised there was a dynamic to a certain type of waiting which can create emotional intensity. Psychologically suspense sharpens even the most powerful experience as it brings a nervous energy which builds to a climax immediately before the anticipated event. This in turn creates a massive intensity to the reward that instant gratification will always fail to match. Consider for example the eager anticipation of a child three days before Christmas, or the frenzied suspense of a young lad before a 'hot date'. In these instances it is the thrill of the chase that dominates both the emotions at the time and the memory as we look back on these events. We found through that only when the waiting included 'active' anticipation of a positive outcome was the response triggered, when it was simply the end of a boring period (for example waiting for a bus) the emotion evoked was 'relief', a restorative association akin to 'old' Guinness. The fact that drinkers have to wait for their perfect pint of Guinness gave us the opportunity to use anticipation and its attendant emotion suspense as the vehicle for the 'charge'. In its most literal sense this would mean waiting in eager anticipation for the perfect pint, but it could come to mean a number of things. How we explained it to Tom and Walt is shown below:

ABBOTT MEAD VICKERS BBDO LTD. Creative Brief

What is the key insight in this brief? While Guinness is seen as a quiet restorative pint there are times (Weekends in Dublin, St. Patrick's Day...) where it is anything but. On these occasions Guinness is drunk in volume and the mood is more buzzy, charged and 'up for it' (i.e. more like other session beers). The more we can make Guinness feel this way (while being true to the brand) the more beer we can sell. What are we trying to achieve with this advertising? To turn up the emotional charge on Guinness and thus make it appropriate for a great session. Who are we trying to influence? Young men aged 20 25 who like 'the odd pint of Guinness every now and then'. They admire Guinness and think it's 'special' but don't regularly drink it preferring Lager, Bitter, Irish Ales, etc. for a 'session with the lads', 'you just don't think of Guinness that way'. What does the advertising need to say? The ultimate experience is worth waiting for. What justification are we providing for support? The unique 'ritual' of preparing and serving Guinness means drinkers have to wait with a growing sense of anticipation for the perfect pint. This anticipation and its attendant emotions of suspense magnifies the reward of the first sip. Eager anticipation enhances the enjoyment of even the most intense experiences (consider the anticipation of a child three days before Christmas or a young lad on a hot date or in a strip club before the show starts.

THE CREATIVE IDEA

To this insight Tom and Walt applied their unique inspiration. A few days later stunning scripts and press ideas emerged including, amongst others, the first ad to be made, 'Swimblack', and the line 'Good things come to those who wait'. In research that evening we watched consumers respond with involvement and excitement (as the client was to do later when the idea was presented by David Abbott). So far, Tom and Walt have converted this brief into two astonishing ads 'Swimblack' and 'Surfer' with a third ad in production. In Swimblack, the ageing village hero Marco has to swim across the bay in a race against the pouring of a pint of Guinness. As we watch we are drawn in to the intense anticipation of his fellow villagers willing Marco to succeed. Marco's bar owning brother, Franco, ensures Marco's success (and therefore the great Guinness victory session to follow) through a sleight of hand. The place erupts. In Surfer the metaphor is more straightforward (although the execution is climactic) as we join a surfer waiting on the beach for the perfect wave and ride with him as he experiences the most intense and charged ride of his life. We then return to the pint of Guinness in a scene that mirrors in sound and film the opening waiting scene of the ad and allow the viewer to selfcomplete the metaphor. The campaign has received significant critical acclaim, more importantly however the campaign has generated a powerful consumer response and is having a profound effect on the brand with key brand measures all showing significant positive movements since the campaign broke. Plannings' role in this was to help to identify a 'brand truth' and a potent insight about waiting which germinated startling creative work, which in turn is shifting the Guinness mood from 'chilled' to 'charged'. Most impressive of all, we seem to be converting occasional drinkers and market share continues to grow. The chain works, good things are coming. Account Planning Group

http://www.warc.com