To mark the second year of its Six Nations title sponsorship, Guinness wrote a love letter to the Six Nations Championships ahead of kick-off.
The social-first activation, launched on 1 February, aims to highlight the power of sport to bring the nations together.
With the copy line ‘rivals for 80 minutes, friends forever’, Guinness’ homage to the 2020 Guinness Six Nations is based around the idea that whatever happens on the pitch, or off it, nothing will come between these six rugby unions in the game’s greatest Championship’.
Voiced by Fleabag and Sherlock actor Andrew Scott, the campaign, created by We Are Social Sport, is built around the camaraderie at the heart of the championship.
The voiceover is set to an edited collage of Six Nations film footage and sees Scott recites “Where ruby reds replace January blues, where this union of rugby never falters, nor fails to entertain. Where character and camaraderie bind six nations as one. Where differences are set aside, nullified, and pints of Guinness flow.”
The campaign was created for Niall McKee (Head of Guinness Europe), Bethany Weston (Brand Manager, Guinness GB) by We Are Social Sport/Studios where the team included Gareth Leeding (Executive Creative Director), Kenneth Moore (Associate Creative Director), Rob James (Senior Creative), Andrew Boyers (Group Account Director), Rachel Hardicker (Account Manager), Sophie FitzGerald (Producer), Kit Peebles (Senior Project Manager), Rob Rafalat (Director) and Stuart McCardle (Director of Photography).
The media agency was Carat, the events agency was Verve, with PR handled by Hope & Glory (GB) and Wilson Hartnell (Ireland).
Other strands of the beer brand’s tournament activation include its Guinness x Wolfpack collaboration with ambassadors Will Greenwood and Clodagh McKenna.
Ireland edged it on the pitch. How about on the pool table? @WillGreenwood and @clodaghmckenna reflect on a thrilling first day at the #GuinnessSixNations as two rival fans settle the score. See you next weekend for Guinness Gameday Live round two drinkawa https://t.co/22Mk3GeVA1
— Guinness Ireland (@GuinnessIreland) February 1, 2020
First match down. Plenty more to come. Join @WillGreenwood and @ClodaghMcKenna as they hop over to the @OpenGateBrewery to try the new Guinness x Wolfpack collaboration and hear Irish and Scottish fans’ hopes for the big game ahead. #GuinnessSixNations https://t.co/tKHMVBAlPZ pic.twitter.com/FdUasAcv48
— Guinness Ireland (@GuinnessIreland) February 1, 2020
Comment:
The planners and strategists surely must have had Brexit in the back of their minds when deciding to emphasise friendly rivalries, camaraderie and bringing nations together.
After all, the tournament is now split in half between three EU teams and three teams who have just turned their back on the union.
Whether rugby and rugby sponsors can continue to hold the sporting high moral ground after the Saracen’s financial cheating scandal must surely be in doubt.
This latest wave of Guinness rugby work follows on from its 2019 Rugby World Cup ‘Made Of More’ campaign focused on Japan’s female rugby pioneers ‘Liberty Fields’ (see case study) and its Women’s Six Nations ‘Sisters’ activation from March 2019 (see case study), as well as its 2019 ‘The Purse’ and ‘GuinnessClear’ campaigns from 2019 (see case study).
Links:
Guinness
https://www.instagram.com/guinness/
https://twitter.com/GuinnessIreland
https://www.facebook.com/Guinness
We Are Social Sport
https://wearesocial.com/uk/sport
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