Ooh I love the comparison of champagne and Guineas as marketing products sold on image. However the other side of the coin is when the image gets tarnished (as Champagne is finding out), it becomes a whole less cool. Fun piece btw
Having more of you at Substack is definitely a good news! Good luck with all the new projects - luckily we have Guinness in Tbilisi, unlike many of wonderful wines you are usually writing about - so I'll do a little gaumarjos with Guinness to you tonight 🍺
Agree with Richard and Garvin, Guiness has nailed physical and mental availability to make it one of the most easily recognised brands in the world. Even light and non-buyers of the category know of Guinness. To the extent that school kids know it (Book of Records).
I agree. My point was that Guinness is an acquired taste and yet the company doesn't try to explain or educate. I appreciate it has a massive advantage in name recognition and distribution.
I do wonder if this would be different if launching Guinness as a product today, instead of during a time when it was probably launched as a medicinal tonic.
Yes, yes. Decades of restrained, well framed marketing that speaks to people as insiders, almost whispering the brand values; rather than hectoring them with discounts & buy now / drink more urgency. Well played, Guinness.
As a devoted ale drinker who can't stand Guinness (or more generally anything that suggests marketing nonsense actually works) this is the most depressing thing I've read all day. And that includes the Russo-Ukrainian war bloggers.
I’m sure Oz Clarke read books about wine. I’ve seen his videos in his book-packed study. I’m sure the Oddbins staff also consumed wine information voraciously. Everyone who really cares about wine educates themselves about it one way or another in order to talk about it and sell it. So why are many highly educated people so hostile to education in wine? We expect people in other industries to be educated and trained before advising us. I doubt we’d have seen an explosion in Greek wines in the UK without education, for example.
I think you might have slightly misunderstood my point. I'm not at all hostile to education. It's not that the trade/ press etc. shouldn't be knowledgeable - it's that 'educating' most customers isn't the best way to reach them and might be counter-productive.
Of course - spending hundreds of millions on advertising and sponsorship over decades is effective, but Guinness struggled for years outside Ireland, hence the Extra Cold, the line variation with Harp, the endless widgets and gimmicks to get people to buy it at home as well as in the pub (a major brand weakness). It therefore spent a huge amount of advertising and marketing capital 'educating' people about letting the beer settle, 'educating' barmen how to pour it etc. For Guinness, educating its consumers about how to drink it and why has been an important part of their messaging.
Ooh I love the comparison of champagne and Guineas as marketing products sold on image. However the other side of the coin is when the image gets tarnished (as Champagne is finding out), it becomes a whole less cool. Fun piece btw
Having more of you at Substack is definitely a good news! Good luck with all the new projects - luckily we have Guinness in Tbilisi, unlike many of wonderful wines you are usually writing about - so I'll do a little gaumarjos with Guinness to you tonight 🍺
Cheers!
Great sarcastic wit… enjoyed the read.
The big advantage Guinness has is that it's already available in pretty much every single pub up and down the country.
Ha! Yes that does help.
Agree with Richard and Garvin, Guiness has nailed physical and mental availability to make it one of the most easily recognised brands in the world. Even light and non-buyers of the category know of Guinness. To the extent that school kids know it (Book of Records).
I agree. My point was that Guinness is an acquired taste and yet the company doesn't try to explain or educate. I appreciate it has a massive advantage in name recognition and distribution.
I do wonder if this would be different if launching Guinness as a product today, instead of during a time when it was probably launched as a medicinal tonic.
Can you imagine the focus groups? And people not liking the taste or being put off by the colour.
A product of its time, with a leg up that would not happen in the same way today.
Thanks for the thinking.
Keep up the great work.
Imagine Marmite being launched today - it's really salty and weird, oh and you only need a tiny bit so a jar lasts ages.
Yes, yes. Decades of restrained, well framed marketing that speaks to people as insiders, almost whispering the brand values; rather than hectoring them with discounts & buy now / drink more urgency. Well played, Guinness.
A lesson to so many brands esp. spirits desperately chasing the young pound/ dollar.
As a devoted ale drinker who can't stand Guinness (or more generally anything that suggests marketing nonsense actually works) this is the most depressing thing I've read all day. And that includes the Russo-Ukrainian war bloggers.
I’m sure Oz Clarke read books about wine. I’ve seen his videos in his book-packed study. I’m sure the Oddbins staff also consumed wine information voraciously. Everyone who really cares about wine educates themselves about it one way or another in order to talk about it and sell it. So why are many highly educated people so hostile to education in wine? We expect people in other industries to be educated and trained before advising us. I doubt we’d have seen an explosion in Greek wines in the UK without education, for example.
I think you might have slightly misunderstood my point. I'm not at all hostile to education. It's not that the trade/ press etc. shouldn't be knowledgeable - it's that 'educating' most customers isn't the best way to reach them and might be counter-productive.
Of course - spending hundreds of millions on advertising and sponsorship over decades is effective, but Guinness struggled for years outside Ireland, hence the Extra Cold, the line variation with Harp, the endless widgets and gimmicks to get people to buy it at home as well as in the pub (a major brand weakness). It therefore spent a huge amount of advertising and marketing capital 'educating' people about letting the beer settle, 'educating' barmen how to pour it etc. For Guinness, educating its consumers about how to drink it and why has been an important part of their messaging.