Guinness is aiming to take its sponsorship of the Premier League “from association to meaning” as its second year of being the official beer of the competition kicks off today (15 August).
Last year, the Diageo-owned stout brand kicked off its first season sponsoring the Premier League with its “biggest ever global campaign”. The key goal for the partnership in its first year was to ensure the brand was top-of-mind for football fans and build its association with the sport.
It has achieved that successfully, rising to become the number one beer in the football viewing occasion in the on-trade in Great Britain, according to data from Alcovision.
“For an inaugural season, that’s a pretty special result,” Deb Caldow, Guinness category marketing director, tells Marketing Week.
We do things for the long-term.
Somnath Dasgupta, Guinness
The brand had an “outstanding” financial year, she adds, with the Premier League season playing a strong role in that growth and Diageo able to link its association with football to incremental sales. In its most recent financial year, which ended 30 June, the brand grew volumes by 14% globally. In the UK, one in every nine pints poured is now a Guinness, up from one in 10 last year, according to data from CGA.
Its plan this year is to build on this momentum and establish Guinness as a brand that is integrated into football culture for the long term.
This focus on the bigger picture and long-term goals is how Guinness approaches everything it does, notes Somnath Dasgupta, global marketing director for the brand. He points to the approach Guinness takes in rugby, where it has been a partner of the Six Nations since 2007.
“First of all, our partnerships are long term, we are in year two of a four-year deal. I’m not going to predict what will happen in four years. But if you see our partnerships in rugby, we don’t do it for the short term. We do things for the long term,” he says.
Building a ‘legacy’
This long-term approach informs the notion of taking Guinness’s sponsorship of the Premier League “from association to meaning”.
For Guinness this means not just being known as a sponsor of the Premier League, but being respected by fans as a true partner of the game. Caldow sees this as brands “improving the sport and the platform they are associated with, not just promoting it”, and creating a “long-term relationship that might go on to build a legacy”.
“That’s where sponsorships really become a brand-building tool,” she says.
Sports partnerships are everywhere, and Guinness wants to truly contribute by leaving football “better off” than it was before through its work around the Premier League, rather than just becoming another brand making noise in the space.
Guinness is a brand that brings people together, says Dasgupta, and it is bringing that value to its approach to its Premier League sponsorship.
“Where Guinness shows up at its best is when we authentically tell stories of the power that togetherness brings,” he says.
It is doing that through its ‘Lovely Day for a Guinness’ platform, under which it is launching its campaign for the second year of its Premier League sponsorship. The campaign is led by a series of short films featuring fans from all 20 Premier League clubs.
Given Guinness’s ability to bring people together, it wanted to spotlight the fans themselves and “what they go through together and the sense of community that brings”, says Dasgupta.
The campaign for the Premier League spotlights rituals and quirky moments from fans, including themed nail art and DJs on match days. The footage was filmed on real matchdays last year to be representative of real fans.
Mutual growth
As Guinness looks to step further into its partnership with the Premier League and build deeper meaning, it is also working closely with its on-trade partners.
The brand was recently recognised by pub chain JD Wetherspoon as having been a stand-out performer in its branches. Caldow notes that Guinness has the ability to drive footfall for pubs and bars, especially through its association with football. It is tripling the amount of activity it is doing in the on-trade, she says.
“We recognise that for the on-trade, the sport occasion is probably one of the only occasions that’s growing in terms of driving footfall,” she states. “So, by association, Guinness and football can help the on-trade build footfall and thrive.”
Guinness boosts appeal among women and younger drinkers to fuel success
The brand is also partnering with pub chain Greene King to ensure football watching in pubs is an inclusive and welcoming occasion.
Guinness may once have been seen as a male-heavy brand. However, it has seen very strong growth among female drinkers in recent times. Data from April shows it has seen its penetration among women rise by 86% versus the previous 12 months.
Similarly, while football fans were also once seen as predominantly male, the sport is more inclusive than ever, Caldow notes.
“It’s a long way from the beer-swilling, male-dominated sport, it used to be,” she says, adding that Guinness is “delighted” to represent the diversity of the game in its work.
Owning the moment
While the Premier League is an English competition, it has global fandom, with Guinness activating its first season of sponsorship in over 80 markets.
This season, Guinness is aiming to continue to drive the principle of “global brand, local heartbeat” with the way it brings its work to life. Caldow notes that across every big brand she has worked on that has been an aim, but that Guinness is the one that stays most true to that goal.
The brand is adept at taking big ideas and making them locally relevant, she notes.
In this new season, Guinness has created a social film specifically for the US market. ‘Hope’ is a piece of creative narrated by football legend Gary Neville. Football, or soccer as Americans might call it, has not got the same popularity in the USA as it does in the UK and much of Europe, but Dasgupta notes it’s a rising occasion.
“The game is definitely growing in the US,” he says.
Sports in the US is a massive marketing moment in general, he notes, with a lot of brands embedded in it. While football may not be as big as something like the NBA or NFL, Guinness hopes driving a connection with the game will give it increased visibility.
“We are very confident that as the sport grows, and it will, we can almost embed ourselves in the growth of the sport,” he says.
