Getting on with Getting-On

Guinness and the freedom of knowing who you are

As TVE turns 40 and my friend and CEO, Fleur Horner, has started reminiscing about heritage, nostalgia, provenance and how to play that hand, it has got me thinking about heritage brands who are getting on a bit but don’t necessarily act their age.

Some of our most respected, revered and valuable brands are also relevant to people in their twenties and thirties. How can brands that are hundreds of years old still be cool, relevant and aspirational for young people today?

A few brands come to mind that play the heritage card rather well. Hovis has used it to signal reassuring consistency: as good today as it has always been. Harley-Davidson turned its refusal to follow the crowd into an uncompromising character. Jack Daniel’s draws on Lynchburg, rock and roll and an old-school attitude, while inviting each generation to make its own traditions.

But perhaps more impressive are the brands that move beyond celebrating their history. They use it as evidence of what they understand, then put that knowledge to work in the world as it is today.

Guinness seems to own that particular time machine.

Founded in 1759, Guinness is now a global icon, but one often described as having a local heartbeat. That gets to the interesting tension at its centre. It is recognised almost everywhere, while still leaving room to belong to different people, places and moments.

The confidence to change comes from knowing what cannot

Guinness has always been a bit different. It looks different, tastes different and takes longer to pour. The dark liquid, creamy head, harp and branded glass are instantly recognisable. Even the wait has become part of the pleasure.

It would have been easy to see some of that as friction to remove. Make it lighter, quicker and easier. Make it more like everything else.

Instead, Guinness has protected the things that make the experience unmistakably Guinness: the quality, craft, visual distinctiveness, ritual of the pour and social experience surrounding the pint.

That does not mean it has stayed still.

Guinness appears to have a firm grasp of its DNA: the small number of things that should remain constant, however much the world around them changes. That becomes a guide for where the brand has permission to move and where it should hold its ground.

Heritage gives Guinness authority. Mastery of its DNA gives it freedom.

As we heard at SXSW London, that clarity has helped Guinness move from a marketing model centred on big films and print towards social media, influencers and closer relationships with communities, without losing the character of the brand along the way.

Leave room for people to create the culture

That freedom is especially visible in how Guinness relates to its communities.

Take “splitting the G”. The challenge of drinking exactly enough from a pint to leave the line between stout and foam across the middle of the letter has become a social ritual, spread by drinkers through pubs and social media.

It feels very current, but it could only really happen to Guinness. The contrast between black and white, the branded glass, the creamy head and the way the drink settles all make it possible. Guinness created the conditions. Drinkers did the rest.

The clever bit is knowing when to join in and when to leave well alone. Trying to manufacture every cultural moment usually produces the unmistakable whiff of a brand trying too hard.

Guinness has increasingly embraced co-creation and community-led content, paying attention to what people are already doing with the brand and helping the strongest behaviours travel further. Its heritage gives people plenty to work with, without forcing them to repeat the past.

Credibility earned over time

Rugby provides an even clearer example.

Guinness has been associated with the sport for decades. Its long involvement with the Six Nations means it understands far more than where to put its logo. It understands the supporters, pubs, rivalries and social rituals surrounding match day.

More recently, Guinness has extended that relationship through its sponsorship of the Women’s Six Nations, at a time when interest and energy around the women’s game are accelerating.

The opportunity is bigger than attaching the brand to a growing sporting property. Guinness can apply what it has learned from years in the men’s game to support the social culture developing around women’s rugby.

The rituals surrounding men’s rugby have had much longer to form. Guinness can help create the conditions for equally strong behaviours and occasions to grow around the women’s game, while recognising that they may develop differently.

That is where heritage becomes useful. Long-term involvement gives a brand credibility, understanding and a genuine role to play in what comes next.

Giving heritage somewhere to live

Heritage also becomes more compelling when people can experience it for themselves.

The Guinness Open Gate Brewery in Covent Garden adds another physical home to the brand. It brings together brewing, experimental beers, food, tours, events and retail, giving people the chance to explore the history and craft of Guinness while having a social experience in the here and now. While I love all this and get a bit brand geeky and evangelistic about Guinness, the pint I had in the Open Gate brewery recently, was crap. But I forgave the brand, you can’t get everything right all the time – the good experiences far outweigh the bad.

Overall, the combination of dedication to product and enabling social connection really delivers. The brewery can tell the story behind the product, but it also gives people a reason to meet, try something new and share the occasion with others.

For a brand with more than 260 years behind it, venues like this make heritage tangible rather than leaving it as something to admire from a distance.

Changing with the drinker

The same balance appears in the product.

Guinness 0.0 responds to the growing number of people moderating their alcohol consumption, while staying as close as possible to the taste, appearance and ritual people already associate with Guinness. Nitrosurge brings more of the theatre and control of the draught pour into the home.

Both innovations widen the occasions in which Guinness can play, without treating the existing experience as disposable.

The marketing model has changed too. Guinness can still create a major piece of film, but it now pays much closer attention to the behaviours emerging through pubs, creators and communities. It is meeting people where they are, rather than expecting the audience to come to the brand on its terms.

Heritage should help a brand move faster

There is a temptation to think heritage brands stay relevant because people remain fond of their past. Guinness suggests something more useful.

Its history has given it a deep understanding of the product, the occasions surrounding it and the communities that care about it. That understanding helps the brand recognise which new behaviours are worth supporting, which partnerships it has earned the right to enter and which parts of the experience must be protected.

Clear DNA can make a heritage brand faster. It reduces the need to debate its identity every time culture shifts. The brand can react with greater confidence because it understands the difference between evolving its expression and losing its character.

As I wandered around the Guinness website looking for highlights from its past, I noticed a brand proclamation: “our greatest work is yet to come.”

That feels like the right attitude.

Knowing your history is important, but it is only compelling evidence of future relevance if you keep showing up with the right attitude at the next gig.

Here’s to restless, forever-hungry old brands everywhere.

Sláinte.