Twelve Days of Commerce: #6 Guinness

In the spirit of Christmas, few things compare to stepping into a 500-year-old pub. Melted candles drip onto stained wooden stalls, Sinatra’s voice echoes softly in the background, and fairy lights edge the corners of the bar-top. In the corner by the fire, an elderly gentleman, seemingly as old as the pub itself, nods off after his eighth pint, while the rest of the room hums with clinking glasses and the lively chants of revelers.

But there’s one key element that completes this winter scene. Enter my number six pick on this year’s Dollar Commercenewsletter: Guinness. Yes, I’ll admit to being a fan of the iconic Irish stout, but Guinness is more than just a pint, it’s a masterclass in branding. As a true benchmark of marketing genius, the Guinness legacy should be admired and hopefully stimulate a greater understanding for the value in product power.

The beauty of no competition

Guinness’ campaigns: “Good things come to those who wait” (amongst many) and the coolness of the toucans balancing pints, have transcended traditional beer marketing to become cultural artefacts. While lagers like Budweiser and Heineken have also achieved memorable branding moments, they suffer from the fact that they’re part of an indistinguishable crowd. Fosters and their marketing efforts as an Australian beer, was the last most powerful attempt, in my opinion, out-the-box idea from a lager company going big on marketing.

Branding aside, Guinness ultimately stands on the strength of its core product. While I wouldn’t call myself a stout aficionado (at least to my Irish grandmother), there are very few brews I’d consider remotely similar. The closest contender in recent years might be Conor McGregor’s Forged Irish Stout. Credit where credit’s due, it’s an OK attempt, which I’m surprised Guinness has been so lax about. But it falls into the common misconception that Guinness alternatives are just other dark stouts when, in truth, they’re worlds apart.

Picture this: you walk into a pub and say to the bartender, “I’ll have a Guinness.” They reply, “Sorry, we’re out of Guinness, but we do have—” and before they finish, you cut in: “Never mind, I’ll take a lager.” While most drinks have comparable stand-ins, Guinness doesn’t. Its smooth creaminess remains unmatched, and every attempt to replicate it has fallen flat. There’s truly no substitute for the one and only. There are however myths, that have played a valid contribution in it’s marketing over the years, namely the fact that Guinness is high in calories and high in alcohol content compared to it’s cousins on the lager side. In fact it’s quite the opposite (read more).

Guinness and social media’s ‘Split the G’

Earlier this year, I wrote an article called ‘What makes coffee so Instagrammable’ exploring the intersection of aesthetics, culture, and social media virality. Much like hype-driven restaurants, brands like Guinness have benefited immensely from the digital age, where technology fuels a platform for young communities to jump on trends and, inevitably, fulfill another stereotype.

One such trend is ‘Splitting the G’ or, depending on who you ask, ‘Splitting the E’ (a debate that’s not for the faint-hearted). Splitting the harp logo and the Guinness logo is in fact yesterday’s news. The challenge, while simple in concept, involves drinking a pint of Guinness until the bottom of the white head aligns perfectly with the gap in the letter G on the logo. The so-called ‘Unicorn split’ ups the ante: aligning both the middle of the E and the G simultaneously (so we’ve invented). Peer pressure often negates the challenge as a one-off attempt, and after a few rounds, you may find yourself calling a taxi home. Yet, this trend has exploded on social media, cementing Guinness as a brand that thrives in the age of viral culture (read more).

Guinness sales rose dramatically last year, and are set to yet again, and reports are blaming the Gen-Z’s for the impact in sales (read more). With new ‘Guinnfluencers’ (yikes) on social media, the younger generation seem to find a load of fun in ‘Splitting the G’ under friendly competition with their friends. Guinness has in fact had to dip into their reserve supplies in Q4 of this year, to keep up with demand, with some smaller pubs in London unable to access the supply they need to fuel their way through the Christmas season.

We’ve witnessed the rise of IPAs - though it’s fair to wonder if they’re still in fashion - fueled by the explosion of local breweries creating their own regional twists. Similarly, the hard seltzer market has ridden the wave of social media, with brands like High Noon and White Claw leading the charge (I missed this wave completely…). But the questions I ask is: will we still be sipping High Noon 300 years from now? It’s hard to say, especially since iterations of these products have already flooded the market. Yet, after nearly three centuries, Guinness remains a legacy brand with a seat at the table that’s shown impossible to unseat.

Meet up-and-coming London based brand, and Guinness inspired ToucanBru.

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Guinness myths:

Do you really have to let your Guinness settle? (read more)

Did you know Guinness’s largest factory outside of The British Isles is in Nigeria? (read more)

News: Guinness opens a new flagship factory in London (read more)