With C-suite leaders from iconic brands keynoting sessions, leading workshops and attending networking events, Brandweek is the place to be for marketing innovation and problem-solving. Register to attend September 23–26 in Phoenix, Arizona.
Guinness is kicking off the largest global campaign in its history to mark its debut as the official beer and non-alcoholic beer partner of the Premier League.
In June, the Diageo-owned brand announced a four-year deal with England’s Premier League, after beating Heineken in a multimillion-pound bidding war to replace Budweiser as the official beer partner. It is Guinness’s first global partnership in soccer.
The campaign, created by the brand’s longtime agency AMV BBDO, launches a new platform called “Lovely Game for a Guinness.”
Because the Premier League is the biggest soccer league in the world, broadcasting games in 920 million homes across 189 countries, Guinness needed “a platform that is truly global in nature,” Somnath Dasgupta, global marketing director for sports partnerships, told ADWEEK. Guinness will look to activate its Premier League partnership in over 70 countries.
The brewer’s aim is “to drive association [of the brand] with sport,” Dasgupta said. While it already has some sports partnerships, such as its long-term sponsorship of the Six Nations rugby championship, in certain markets it is not typically the first beer associated with soccer.
“The global platform helps us cement our association with [soccer] in a wider pool of consumers … for whom beer and [soccer] are intertwined,” said Dasgupta.
“Lovely Game for a Guinness” will comprise four films set in different countries, out-of-home ads, creative appearing in pubs and retail outlets, sponsorship of the Premier League’s Goal of the Month award, and a fleet of 20 tankers led by soccer legend Alan Shearer that will depart Dublin and deliver beer to fans.
The first film, “Eriskay,” launches in Great Britain and Ireland to coincide with the Premier League’s season-opening game on Friday between Manchester United and Fulham.
Set on the Scottish island of Eriskay, where 10% of the population plays for the only soccer team there, the ad depicts how the sport brings together even the most remote communities and motivates them to overcome hardship for the love of the game.
“Rooftop,” premiering globally in the coming weeks, takes place in Seoul, South Korea, where a group of shopping mall colleagues never pause their soccer enthusiasm, even while the rest of the city sleeps.