An Ale of Two Cities: Guinness Scotland Vs Guinness Nigeria
Guinness launched a series of ads about 10 days ago. I came across 3 of them on their YouTube channel. In this post, I want to pen down my thoughts on 2 of those new ads: “Isle of Eriskay” and “Brothers”. The premise of the 2 adverts is the Premier League which Guinness is sponsoring.
First lets take a look at the adverts one by one:
Guinness 0.0 x The Premier League: ‘Eriskay Island’
This advert is about having football matches in the Isle of Eriskay, which has a population of 140 odd members. So, literally 10% of the population plays every football match that happens here. But the rest of them have some role or the other to play in the matches anyway, since the number of people living is so less. The terrain is so demanding and unusual for football so the home team ends up winning due to familiarity advantage and possibly better support from the home crowds. But end of the day, they all enjoy the Guinness 0.0 in their pub and have some great moments with the people living there. The commentary says, there are 2 occasions when the people cry, one is when they come and see the football pitch in the Isle of Eriskay and the second is when they have to leave after the Guinness and laughter sessions in the pubs.
Guinness x The Premier League: ‘Brothers’
This is the story of 2 brothers: Miracle and Abidemi based in Nigeria. Miracle is blind but loves football and does commentary which everyone enjoys. Abidemi helps him by telling him exactly what is going on in the match so that Miracle can work his magic on the crowd. Miracle brings the game to life because according to him football is not just about what we see, but how we feel.
Eriskay, Scotland Vs Lagos, Nigeria
Well, nice words in the Nigerian advert: Football isn’t just about what we see, but it’s about what we feel. But for this article, let me tell you how it makes me feel about the 2 adverts.
First, the Eriskay version.
I think the story telling is very interesting and gripping in this advert. There are interesting visuals of the landscape, the natural beauty, and ample clips of the football field which humorously reveal how the terrain is bumpy, rocky, and unsuitable for a game of football, causing exasperation and ultimately defeat for the visiting team. It is a 1 minute ad but you’d hardly feels long and you do not get distracted throughout as the story unfolds in a very interesting way.
In the end, it all ties up to the brand and the product perfectly as the brand reveals itself as Guinness 0.0 which intertwines with the defeated team enjoying the bonhomie at the pub enjoying the product along with the locals, so, it all levels out in the end, irrespective of the game outcome.
I would say, it is a good advert.
Now, the Nigerian version.
The Nigerian ad adopts the story of the love for football and weaves the story of how despite being blind, Miracle is able to enjoy the game so much and how he is able to make others enjoy as well.
To be honest, this advert feels like every other advert done by brands that sponsor football. It also sounds like the Coca Cola “Taste the feeling” kind of a campaign, only weaker in appeal and story telling.
The production is no doubt expensive and there is a feeble attempt to insert humour with the goat bleating cameo. But it felt Meh. Really. For a brand which used to be so popular in Nigeria, I don’t think this advert would capture much of the feelings of the locals.
Last but not the least, it never ties to the product. Probably Coca Cola would have had a better chance to tie to the “feeling” than Guinness.
Anyway, the season has started off and Guinness probably has some more cards up its sleeve. Let’s see what comes next. As of this set, on my scoreboard, Guinness has a +1 for Eriskay and a -1 for Brothers. So, the score is Guinness 0.0!