For 2 years, Guinness have worked to make the beautiful game “Brighter for all” with a football campaign that inspired and energised everyone with the creative ingenuity and optimism of Africa’s brightest fans.

Now, it was time for Guinness to take the next step - turning their message of making the game brighter for all into a reality - to truly embed the brand in African football culture. That’s when they came to us to create a football viewing experience platform that gave fans the experience they deserved, and transcended the physical space, welcoming in more fans than ever before.

Our objectives we didn’t want to measure in beers sold or profit gained, but real-world impact of millions of fans in Africa. Their reactions & interactions are what really proves that we made, and will continue to make, a real impact on local football culture.

Introducing, Guinness Matchday - By the fans, for the fans - our brand experience platform that elevates the viewing experience of live football matches; in a way only Guinness can.

In creating this concept, we wanted to open the game beyond the 90-minutes to encapsulate the shared excitement that an entire matchday brings for all fans, from choosing your shirt in the morning to sing-alongs after the game.

Here’s where we landed:

“This one’s for the fans. No matter where you’re from, who you support,

or who your rivals are, we all share much in common. Joy, suspense,

anguish, elation, tears. Sometimes all at once.

At Guinness, we’re just as passionate about football.

That’s why we’ve collaborated with the most passionate football fans in Africa

to take live football viewing centres to the next level, just for you – all to provide

the best fan experience these streets have ever seen.”

First, we dug deeper into viewing experiences across Africa. We found that:

- Interrupted experiences with unreliable power or poor signal

- Lacking access as 87% attendees walk 10min max & fans further afield miss out.

- Lack of love with 38% believing their experience doesn’t reflect the excitement of the game.

- Loud noises, music, or lack of punditry break immersion of the game.

- Lacking diversity with 97% of attendees begin typically male under 30.

- Overly commercial.

We had to overcome these barriers, but it was important to delve deeper. We wanted to go beyond fixing a problem to create something bigger & better that could become part of football culture for good. We arrived at one word that was incredibly simple, but just as powerful. Passion.

As fans, there is much that separates us, but, from Cameroon to Tanzania, one thing that unites us all is passion. And it’s something Guinness know a little about.

After 5 large-scale events across Nigeria & Kenya and significant on-trade roll-out across Uganda, Ghana, PEM and Tanzania…

• 1.1 million fans experienced Guinness Matchday

• Matchday = #1 trending topic in Nigeria

• 592M earned reach

• Over 500k Guinness bottles sold

• 3,600 bar activations

• 19% social share of voice

• Kenya received 45 million social impressions, with 940 earned social mentions

• Nigeria had over 400K direct consumer reach

Guinness Matchday is a resounding success, with positive feedback throughout all executions - we have brought football fans together to enjoy the beautiful game.

More so, as we had hoped, the experience platform is taking on a life of its own. In the few short months since we’ve gone live, it’s inspired a tour-able version that elevates the game for even more fans, a Matchday promotion in the off-trade, and a series of short films celebrating those fans who shine brightest.