Objectives

• To retain drinkers and encourage them to make Guinness their first round.
• To support the trade and gain in-pub feature and visibility during football matches.

Strategy

• To target 18-24 year old males who occasionally experiment with Guinness but are sometimes put off because their mates don't drink it.
• To provide a credible and motivating link between Guinness and football that captured the imaginations of drinkers.
• To offer a reward at point of purchase that encouraged customers to switch from the default choice of lager to Guinness during football watching occasions.
   

Summary

Guinness developed 'talking' Celebrity Pocket Pundits.

These were miniature caricature 3D models of John Motson, Jimmy Hill and John Barnes each with a 'real voice' commentary. One of the three Pocket Pundits was offered free with every purchase of a round of four pints of Guinness.

Extensive POS in 8,000 participating pubs guaranteed visibility. Back bar units featured all three pundits positioned on a football field background. The promotional message on posters was designed as a speech bubble to emphasise the 'real voice' element of the models. Empty belly posters allowed licensees to promote the matches that would maximise their sales.

Consumers were given one token for each pint of Guinness ordered. When they had collected four, they went to the bar to claim their Pocket Pundit and were asked to complete the short questionnaire on the reverse of the token and supply their personal details to be advised about future offers.

The communication package was merchandised by Guinness sales teams to ensure the success of the activity.

Elements

• Design and artwork.
• Print.
• Production of POS packages.
• Distribution of POS packages.
• Merchandising.
• Production of Pocket Pundits.

Techniques

• Free

Mechanics

1. WITH PURCHASE

2. Consumers in participating bars were offered the opportunity to be given a Celebrity Pocket Pundit if they purchased 4 pints of Guinness.

3. Each time they purchased a pint of Guinness they were given a token.

4. When they had collected 4 tokens they were able to take them to the bar and exchange them for the Pocket Pundit of their choice.

5. Before receiving their reward they were asked to complete a questionnaire on the reverse of the token together with their contact details.

6. The offer was only available whilst stocks of Pocket Pundits were available and each outlet has been supplied with 30 (3 of each design). This equated to sales of 120 pints of Guinness.

7. The offer was restricted to those aged 18 and over.

8. All POS carried the message 'Remember to drink sensibly'.

Materials 

• Promotional posters.
• Empty belly posters.
• Back-bar units.
• Tokens/questionnaires.
• Pocket Pundits. 

Results

• There was a volume increase of 2 extra kegs per outlet during the promotion.
• This equated to 1.3 million extra pints compared with the previous May/June period.
• The promotion was successfully implemented in 8,000 outlets.
   

Awards

• ISP Silver Award winner 2004: Premiums and Character Merchandising