Guinness has a long-standing association with rugby in Ireland, sponsors the Six Nations each year and is the IRFU partner, Ireland’s rugby union.

2023 promised to be a special year for Ireland. Everyone believed that Ireland could finally conquer the Rugby World Cup, having never won before. The team were Grand Slam champions and were ranked #1 in the world. Guinness wanted to be at the heart of this sporting moment, as the brand that understood what it meant to fans.

Guinness was not an official sponsor of the Rugby World Cup, so we couldn’t mention the tournament or show anything from it.

We had three simple but difficult objectives:

1. Make a cultural impact that sets Guinness apart from the sea of World Cup and IRFU sponsors

2. Drive sales across the tournament (with a goal of YoY growth)

3. Drive on-trade share (vs total LAD category)

To meet our objectives, we needed an insightful, distinctive campaign that would resonate with a broad audience of fans across Ireland.

Our idea was DON’T JINX IT. A rallying cry for a nervous nation.

As proud partners of the Irish Rugby Football Union, we wanted to show we understood the fan experience and that they really do believe what they say can have a real impact on the outcome of a match.

Encouraging the whole nation to think it, dream it, but please, don’t jinx it. Because success depends on the fans, not just the players.

Success would depend on a deep understanding of the Irish fans. So, we listened.

What we heard ahead of the World Cup, was a fear of misplaced overconfidence. Seven quarter-final defeats in previous tournaments were a painful reminder that sport could be unpredictable and unfair.

Despite being favourites to win, the last thing Irish fans wanted brands, commentators or each other to do was say that Ireland was going to win. So, even if we could talk about winning the World Cup, we shouldn’t.

We suspected other brands would adopt rousing messages. But we took a different approach – connecting to fans’ deep anxiety about the tournament and using humour to puncture the tension.

We launched the campaign with the most famous Irish rugby player ever, Brian O’Driscoll, and made Don’t jinx it a famous rallying cry with rugby fans across the country.

Our TVC showed fans who had previously jinxed Ireland, comically admitting their guilt and promising to not do it again.

Our OOH campaign had visuals hinting at rugby with various headlines that said a lot, by saying nothing at all.

We helped fans touch wood by creating wooden pint-pins and distributed them in pubs nationwide.

We worked with legal teams to create the first ever legally binding beer mats that fans could sign with friends as a contract to not jinx it.

We reached fans flying to France, by rebranding Dublin airport with “Don’t Jinx It” messaging to remind them to be cautious.

We even brewed bespoke Guinness champagne for if Ireland won, but unfortunately that is still yet to happen.

“Don’t jinx it” became the phrase of the tournament, adopted by journalists, commentators, players & fans, making “Jinx” a trending topic on social media in Ireland.

The campaign featured in news across the world, reaching Sky News New Zealand.

Our TVC was the most remembered of any brand during Rugby World Cup period (The Interesting Index)

Guinness was the most associated brand with Rugby World Cup in Ireland (33.5%), beating Vodafone by 9.5% and Heineken by 13.7%.

In the Republic of Ireland, quarterly volume increased +1.8% YoY, 39m pints sold.

In Northern Ireland, quarterly volume increased +13.4% YoY, over 5m pints sold.

Guinness’ value share of LAD in on-trade grew by 2.7% in Republic of Ireland and by 4.1% in Northern Ireland. (CGA)

The Irish team may have lost, but Guinness still won, becoming the most associated brand with a tournament we didn’t sponsor.