Guinness Wants to Be Soccer Fans' Favorite Beer With Premier League Partnership
Guinness is kicking off the largest global campaign in its history to mark its debut as the official beer and non-alcoholic beer partner of the Premier League.
In June, the Diageo-owned brand announced a four-year deal with England’s Premier League, after beating Heineken in a multimillion-pound bidding war to replace Budweiser as the official beer partner. It is Guinness’s first global partnership in soccer.
The campaign, created by the brand’s longtime agency AMV BBDO, launches a new platform called “Lovely Game for a Guinness.”
Because the Premier League is the biggest soccer league in the world, broadcasting games in 920 million homes across 189 countries, Guinness needed “a platform that is truly global in nature,” Somnath Dasgupta, global marketing director for sports partnerships, told ADWEEK. Guinness will look to activate its Premier League partnership in over 70 countries.
The brewer’s aim is “to drive association [of the brand] with sport,” Dasgupta said. While it already has some sports partnerships, such as its long-term sponsorship of the Six Nations rugby championship, in certain markets it is not typically the first beer associated with soccer.
“The global platform helps us cement our association with [soccer] in a wider pool of consumers … for whom beer and [soccer] are intertwined,” said Dasgupta.
“Lovely Game for a Guinness” will comprise four films set in different countries, out-of-home ads, creative appearing in pubs and retail outlets, sponsorship of the Premier League’s Goal of the Month award, and a fleet of 20 tankers led by soccer legend Alan Shearer that will depart Dublin and deliver beer to fans.
The first film, “Eriskay,” launches in Great Britain and Ireland to coincide with the Premier League’s season-opening game on Friday between Manchester United and Fulham.
Set on the Scottish island of Eriskay, where 10% of the population plays for the only soccer team there, the ad depicts how the sport brings together even the most remote communities and motivates them to overcome hardship for the love of the game.
“Rooftop,” premiering globally in the coming weeks, takes place in Seoul, South Korea, where a group of shopping mall colleagues never pause their soccer enthusiasm, even while the rest of the city sleeps.
Starting today in Africa, Guinness will re-air its popular ad “Brothers,” which debuted in 2022 and captures the infectious passion of Miracle and Abidemi, who host social gatherings to watch soccer in a Nigerian viewing center.
Later this month in Asia, the brand will unveil “Replay,” about the relatable frustrations of Premier League fans in Korea who must dodge spoilers from games due to the time zone difference.
Each of the ads tells a story unique to that local community while conveying a relatable sentiment about fandom. Guinness has a history of doing this in its advertising, such as with 2014’s “Sapeurs” about a group of elegantly dressed Congolese men that became “one of our most successful” commercials, Dasgupta said.
Like “Sapeurs,” Guinness aims for these new stories to have wider global appeal: “We believe these will travel … because the truths are universal,” Dasgupta added.
Drink responsibly, fans
Guinness is also the Premier League’s official non-alcoholic beer, so responsible drinking messages will be interwoven throughout its campaign.
In “Eriskay,” for example, the players drink pints of Guinness 0.0.
This continues the brand’s approach of promoting its flagship drink and non-alcoholic version side by side during key marketing moments. Last year, Guinness 0.0. was the hero of its St. Patrick’s Day campaign.
In June, Diageo reported that sales of Guinness 0.0 more than doubled year-over-year globally. Guinness holds the leading market share position in three of the largest non-alcoholic markets: the U.K., U.S., and Germany, per Diageo’s Capital Markets Day 2023 report.
As the non-alcoholic spirits category is forecast to grow with a CAGR of 11% between 2022 and 2027, according to IWSR, the Diageo brand sees Guinness 0.0 as a “big growth driver,” said Dasgupta.
“We can use this opportunity [with the Premier League] to really scale up and strengthen our responsible drinking messages,” he said.