Guinness showcases their iconic pint to welcome us all back to the pub

We were intrigued by AMV BBDO’s latest creative execution for Guinness to be aired in the UK to coincide with the pubs finally re-opening after the long and arduous third national lockdown. So, we put the ad through our Test Your Ad solution to see how a nationally representative sample of consumers in the UK reacted and the associated effectiveness of the creative.

Looking first at our Star Rating, we can already see that this is another good example of long-term brand building creative. The 3.4 Star Rating achieved predicts good potential for future market share gain. This is achieved through a consistent build of positive emotion throughout the ad, dominated by the most effective emotion of all, Happiness. The levels of Happiness continue to build to the peak ending – a pledge from Guinness to support UK pubs.

However, what interested us the most us was the playful and clever use of Guinness’ iconic Brand Distinctive Asset – the Guinness pint. Using this, Brand Fluency was built up throughout the creative in a subtle and amusing way. At System1 we know that the use of Brand Distinctive Assets; which include brand shapes & signifiers like the Guinness pint, as well as logos, typeface, slogans, colours and colour combinations, characters and sounds, are powerful tools in advertising. These elements act as fluent devices to deliver stronger Brand Fluency.

We also know that explicit branding early in a creative execution can turn consumers off, therefore the introduction of branding through these cues is becoming a more and more critical tactic, especially on digital channels where the temptation to skip must be countered.

We look at two measures of Brand Fluency; first the traditional aspect of ad fluency which reveals the percentage of consumers who name the correct brand at the end of the ad. This execution from Guinness achieved a score 98% which is expected given the introduction of the pint itself towards the end of the creative. This is done tastefully as part of the overall story arc and is exactly what we like to to see from a brand building ad such as this.

Almost as interesting though, is the performance of the ad against our second measure of Brand Fluency; our time-weighted Brand Fluency Rating. This tells us how well the ad is branded throughout the execution, second-by-second. During the first 30 seconds of the ad, the consumer is presented with the black and white colour combination in several everyday scenarios. This execution acts as a subtle but clever device for cueing the brand. It also serves as a driver of positive emotion when the penny drops, and consumers realise who it is talking to them!

The time-weighted Brand Fluency Rating for this ad is currently at a Modest 48, however this is a great score for an ad that has so recently gone to air. We predict that in the coming days and weeks this Brand Fluency Rating will increase to much higher as it spends more time on air.