An Evolution of Guinness Advertising - Business Insider
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An Evolution of Guinness Advertising - Business Insider http://www.businessinsider.com/an-evolution-of-guinness-advertising-... 250 YEARS OF GENIUS: A Look At The Evolution Of Guinness Advertising MALLORY RUSSELL MAR. 12, 2012, 3:30 PM Guinness was founded in 1759 but didn't publish its first ad until 1794. In the early 20th century, the brewery began setting the standard for beer advertising with witty, engaging ads that helped create arguably the best-known beer worldwide. People can still quote its first tagline —"Guinness is good for you"—even though it is 83 years old. More recently, the brewer campaigned on Facebook to set a record for the largest St Patrick’s Day party. (And yes, the Guinness Book of World Records was also originally a marketing stunt by the company.) Guinness Guinness 1934 1 di 24 11/03/2015 14.46 An Evolution of Guinness Advertising - Business Insider http://www.businessinsider.com/an-evolution-of-guinness-advertising-... 1794: Guinness's first official press advertisement was published in the U.K. The company was already 63 years old when it started publishing ads. This engraving was published in ‘The Gentleman’s Magazine’ with the caption ‘Health, peace and prosperity’. It is considered to be one of Guinness's earliest ads. 1862: Guinness adopts the harp logo as its brand. 2 di 24 11/03/2015 14.46 An Evolution of Guinness Advertising - Business Insider http://www.businessinsider.com/an-evolution-of-guinness-advertising-... Until the late 1920s Guinness relied on word of mouth to promote its product.. When sales began to decline in the 1930s, Guinness hired S.H. Benson, an ad agency from London. The agency, which later merged with Ogilvy & Mather, would produce some of the best-known campaigns in advertising history. Flickr/thebbp 3 di 24 11/03/2015 14.46 An Evolution of Guinness Advertising - Business Insider http://www.businessinsider.com/an-evolution-of-guinness-advertising-... 1929: "Guinness is Good for You" Guinness Through much of the 20th century, doctors thought Guinness had medicinal properties. Even until the 1950s mothers in Irish hospitals were given Guinness after giving birth because of the high iron content. So it's no surprise that the Benson agency's simple tagline "Guinness is good for you" was a hit with consumers when it was introduced in 1929. The slogan remained the foundation of the brand for the next 40 years, until the advertising environment became a little more regulated. 4 di 24 11/03/2015 14.46 An Evolution of Guinness Advertising - Business Insider http://www.businessinsider.com/an-evolution-of-guinness-advertising-... 1930: "Guinness For Strength" Guinness John Gilroy, an art director at Benson, started working on the Guinness account in 1930 and illustrated almost all of Guinness' advertisements for the next thirty years. This "Girder" poster was the most popular in the "Guinness for Strength" campaign that depicted men performing feats of ridiculous strength with the help of Guinness. 5 di 24 11/03/2015 14.46 An Evolution of Guinness Advertising - Business Insider http://www.businessinsider.com/an-evolution-of-guinness-advertising-... 1935: "My Goodness, My Guinness" Guinness Gilroy had been trying to develop a Guinness family for a new campaign when he went to the circus and found inspiration from zoo animals that the brand would use until the 1950s. 6 di 24 11/03/2015 14.46 An Evolution of Guinness Advertising - Business Insider http://www.businessinsider.com/an-evolution-of-guinness-advertising-... 1954: "Lovely Day for a Guinness" Guinness First featured in a 1935 ad from Gilroy's zoo animal series, the toucan would become almost as synonymous with the Guinness brand as the harp on the label. The toucan was initially intended to be a pelican, but was changed after poet Dorothy L. Sayers wrote: If he can say as you can, Guinness is Good for You, How grand to be a Toucan, Just think what Toucan do. 7 di 24 11/03/2015 14.46 An Evolution of Guinness Advertising - Business Insider http://www.businessinsider.com/an-evolution-of-guinness-advertising-... 1954: "It was a marketing giveaway—it wasn't supposed to be a money maker." In 1951, the managing director of the Guinness Breweries, Sir Hugh Beaver, got into an argument over whether the koshin golden plover or the grouse was the fastest game bird in Europe. Realizing that this was impossible to confirm in reference books, he decided to publish a book that could end such disputes. In 1954, Guinness gave away 1,000 copies of their Book of Records as a marketing ploy. Today the Guinness Book of World Records holds its own record as the best-selling copyrighted book series of all time. 8 di 24 11/03/2015 14.46 An Evolution of Guinness Advertising - Business Insider http://www.businessinsider.com/an-evolution-of-guinness-advertising-... 1955: First TV commercial. The zoo animal posters would also serve as inspiration for Guinness' first television ads. 9 di 24 11/03/2015 14.46 An Evolution of Guinness Advertising - Business Insider http://www.businessinsider.com/an-evolution-of-guinness-advertising-... 1966: Guinness creates a parody of the Bayeux Tapestry The Bayeux Tapestry is a 230 ft. long piece of cloth that depicts the events leading up to the Norman conquest of England. In this very successful poster, Guinness re-imagined the event with soldiers drinking beer while riding into battle. 10 di 24 11/03/2015 14.46 An Evolution of Guinness Advertising - Business Insider http://www.businessinsider.com/an-evolution-of-guinness-advertising-... 1966: In the 1960s, Guinness commercials take on an after-work theme Guinness was one of the first companies to analyze consumer consumption habits. Their findings shifted their approach from the playful ads of John Gilroy to something more sophisticated. And for the first time, Guinness showed a person drinking their beer in an ad, as in "Shipyard" (below). 11 di 24 11/03/2015 14.46 An Evolution of Guinness Advertising - Business Insider http://www.businessinsider.com/an-evolution-of-guinness-advertising-... 1976: Ad agency JWT wins a Cannes Grand Prix for "Black Pot." Guinness moved its account from Benson to J. Walter Thompson (JWT) in 1969. Starting in 1970, JWT produced a series of very simple, but witty commercials. "Black Pot" helped to enforce the brand's uniqueness compared to other beers and won the brand critical acclaim. 12 di 24 11/03/2015 14.46 An Evolution of Guinness Advertising - Business Insider http://www.businessinsider.com/an-evolution-of-guinness-advertising-... 1977: "Island" Produced by Irish agency ARKS Ltd, "Island" won a Silver Cannes Lion and a CLIO in 1977. The commercial is also known as "Ta siad ag teacht," which translates to "they are coming," the only line spoken in the ad. In June 1999, the commercial was named Ireland's best advertising of the century in a competition run by Marketing magazine. 13 di 24 11/03/2015 14.46 An Evolution of Guinness Advertising - Business Insider http://www.businessinsider.com/an-evolution-of-guinness-advertising-... 1970s and 1980s: The toucans make the transition to TV In Britain, Guinness extended the toucans' 20-year career from print into TV. They became especially useful when the brewery introduced the beer in cans. 14 di 24 11/03/2015 14.46 An Evolution of Guinness Advertising - Business Insider http://www.businessinsider.com/an-evolution-of-guinness-advertising-... 1983: A new twist on an old favorite. Flickr/itsbooyer's In the face of declining sales, Guinness needed a guaranteed home run in the ad department. Allen, Brady & Marsh's "Guinnless" campaign was just that. A nod to the original Benson ads of the 1930s, the "Guinnless" campaign played with the idea that the original slogan could no longer get by advertising regulators. According to Diageo-Guinness U.S.A, within three months the campaign had achieved 87 percent awareness among all adults—including a vicar in London, who placed a sign outside his church that read, "Godliness isn’t good for you"—and revived the brand. 15 di 24 11/03/2015 14.46 An Evolution of Guinness Advertising - Business Insider http://www.businessinsider.com/an-evolution-of-guinness-advertising-... 1985-1995: Rutger Hauer's "Pure Genius" campaign. Rutger Hauer, of Blade Runner fame, gained a cult following playing the "Man with a Guinness" in the edgy "Pure Genius" campaign. 16 di 24 11/03/2015 14.46 An Evolution of Guinness Advertising - Business Insider http://www.businessinsider.com/an-evolution-of-guinness-advertising-... 1996-1997: A fish on a bicycle? "Not Everything in Black & White Makes Sense." This Ogilvy & Mather campaign featured posters, print ads, and TV commercials aimed to flatter the intelligence of drinkers by using thought-provoking quotations and statistics. 17 di 24 11/03/2015 14.46 An Evolution of Guinness Advertising - Business Insider http://www.businessinsider.com/an-evolution-of-guinness-advertising-... 1999: "Surfer" became one of the most memorable commercials of the year. Inspired by a 1981 Guinness ad of the same name, "Surfer" launched in Britain on St. Patrick’s Day. Created by AMV-BBDO, the commercial was also influenced by Walter Crane's painting "Neptune's Horses." "Surfer" received a Cannes Gold Lion, two gold pencils at the Design & Art Directors Association awards, and several Clios. 18 di 24 11/03/2015 14.46 An Evolution of Guinness Advertising - Business Insider http://www.businessinsider.com/an-evolution-of-guinness-advertising-... 2002: Guinness explores some little-known history with "Tom Crean." Following in the cinematic footsteps of "Surfer," this commercial tells the story of Irish Antarctic explorer Tom Crean, who was part of the Shackleton and Scott Antarctic expeditions in 1912.