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The modern personal social narrative for many is less autonomy, less generosity, less security, less diversity.

The answer Guinness celebrates creatively is people who exhibit more openness, more character, more ingenuity, more collaboration.

We found meaning in an enduring human theme: a reminder that you can always carve your own path in life regardless of your context.

Our creative idea is Made of More.

Guinness is a storytelling brand and the central creative premise demands that we always have a relevant brand point of view as a source of jeopardy. A contemporary view that taps early into emergent social or cultural themes that are a challenge to our human nature – the forces that hold us back.

We’ve addressed many contemporary, often controversial, themes over the Made of More years including: disability, war, gang violence, LGBT rights and racial equality.

We needed a new strategic approach that would see communications move away from solely focusing on the drink and instead focus on the shared attitude between the Guinness brand, the product and the drinker.

The strategy was based on :

1) A bold brand

As a company, Guinness has always been a brand with a bold outlook on life. The founder Arthur Guinness made a bold choice to sign a 9,000-year lease of his Dublin brewery, and most notably, decided to brew a dark stout when everyone else was brewing ale.

2) A bold beer

Guinness is a unique drink. It is a black stout rather than a golden lager or ale. Guinness is bold in look and has more taste and character than other beers.

3) A bold consumer

Through global research, we identified an aspirational consumer attitude amongst our beer drinkers. They are those in life who don’t just want to follow the crowd, but instead make bold choices and carve their own path. They are people with more to them, who desire experiences and brands with more depth and substance.

People loved the work (Kantar Millward Brown post campaign research):

‘The theme of equality and friendship is powerful’ -Basketball

‘It is good to be different and stand out – be proud’ - Sapeurs

‘It made me appreciate Guinness more for being forward-thinking and inclusive’ - Gareth

‘Moral strength to defy odds…it feels like Guinness’ - Hammond

Our work cut through in culture with little paid support.

There were over 1.7 million views of the Sapeurs’ backstory in an online documentary.

Gareth & Ashwin clocked over 38 million video views across GB & Ireland.

In-depth stories behind the Cowboys held viewer’s attention for up to 2.07 mins - ‘Cowboys of Compton’ had no paid support.

Creativity has paid off over time.

We’ve seen a steady build in ROIs to over 1.7 times the pre-Made of More campaigns in GB and Ireland.