Guinness Beer: "GUINNESS 250" Direct marketing by Saatchi & Saatchi X

Category: Traffic & Brand Building
Advertiser: GUINNESS/DIAGEO
Product/Service: GUINNESS 250TH ANNIVERSARY
Agency: SAATCHI & SAATCHI
Agency: SAATCHI & SAATCHI X
Date of First Appearance: Jul 1 2009 12:00AM
Entrant Company: SAATCHI & SAATCHI, London, UNITED KINGDOM
Copywriter: Dave Govier (Saatchi & Saatchi UK)
Art Director: Levi Slavin (Saatchi & Saatchi UK)
UK Creative Director: Ant Melder (Saatchi & Saatchi X)
Art Director: Seamus Higgins (Saatchi & Saatchi X)
Creative Partner: Paul Silburn (Saatchi & Saatchi UK)
Regional Creative Director: John Pallant (Saatchi & Saatchi EMEA)
Regional Creative Director Of Art & Design: Roger Kennedy (Saatchi & Saatchi EMEA)
TV Producer: Rebecca Williams (Saatchi & Saatchi)
Business Leader: Andrew Bell (Saatchi & Saatchi)
Account Manager: Alexa Wolff (Saatchi & Saatchi)
Associate Director: Sadia Siddiqui (Saatchi & Saatchi X)
Senior Account Manager: Miles Burton (Saatchi & Saatchi X)
Planner: Andrew Blakeley (Saatchi & Saatchi X)
Director of Strategy: Simon Goodall (Saatchi & Saatchi X)
UK Managing Director: Ant Hopper (Saatchi & Saatchi X)
Planning Director: Karl Bates (Saatchi & Saatchi UK)
: (Freud Communications)
: (Red Urban)
: (JKR)
: (Taylor PR)
Media placement: TV - Asia, Africa, UK, Ireland, USA - 1 July 2009
Media placement: Outdoor - Asia, Africa, Ireland, USA - 1 July 2009
Media placement: Press - Asia, Africa, UK, Ireland, USA - 1 July 2009
Media placement: Digital - Global - 1 July 2009
Media placement: In-Bar - Asia, Africa, UK, Ireland, USA - 1 July 2009
Media placement: Events - Dublin, Lagos, Kuala Lumpur - 24 September 2009
Media placement: TV Special - Sky, ITV2, MTV Asia, Sky Italia, DirecTV and more - 24 September 2009

Describe the brief/objective of the direct campaign.
To use the 250th anniversary of Guinness as an opportunity to generate a massive sales spike outside of St. Patrick's Day – and recruit a new generation of Guinness drinkers. The challenge we faced was that many 20-something consumers admire the brand but don't see Guinness as a drink for them quite yet. Our aim was to do something remarkable to excite, inspire and recruit these consumers into fans who will drink it regularly and spread the word among their peer group.

Explain why the creative execution was relevant to the product or service.
- The entire programme was built around an iconic image of hands raising a glass of Guinness. - To inspire a new generation of Guinness drinkers, we used the twin pillars of contemporary culture: music and community; and invited our target audience to be part of something unique & amazing. - Using a full spectrum of media, we simultaneously drove immediate sales, created excitement around the brand from a new generation of Guinness drinkers and built connections with those drinkers. - Everything came together on Arthur's Day. By broadcasting the event live in thousands of pubs around the world, and then later to an even wider audience, millions of people felt part of a remarkable event

Describe the creative solution to the brief/objective with reference to the projected response rates and desired outcome.
We created a remarkable celebration on a scale never attempted before. Across TV, press, outdoor, online, PR and in-bar, we invited consumers to ‘Join the worldwide celebration’ and toast Arthur Guinness, the founder. A competition with amazing prizes - including a trip into space on the Virgin Galactic spaceship - helped drive buzz around the campaign, building towards a single day: the 24th September – Arthur’s Day. The Arthur’s Day celebrations also comprised a series of spectacular events in Dublin and other cities across the world (televised live in thousands of pubs), with superstars like Tom Jones, Kasabian, Razorlight and Dizzee Rascal toasting Arthur Guinness at exclusive concerts.

Describe the results in as much detail as possible with particular reference to the RESPONSE of the target audience including deliverability statistics, response rates, click throughs, sales cost per response, relationships built and overall return on investment.
- Biggest sales on a single day in Ireland ever - 1.8 million pints sold vs. 500,000 on a normal day. - An extra 1 million more pints sold in the UK on a normal trading day – 2.3 million in total. - Over 1 million unique website visitors in the week of Arthur's Day; 250, 000 registered online to win. - The Arthur’s Day television special had a broadcast reach of 750 million globally - Over 2 billion total media impressions. - Almost 500, 000 new Guinness drinkers; sales since Arthur’s day up by as much as 15%. - Thousands have signed a petition to make Arthur's Day a public holiday in Ireland.