Introduction
IPA’s award-winning case study is the most rigorous and respected awards scheme to prove the effectiveness of communication activity. The study will assess the case study of ” Guinness Made of More 2012-2019: Consistency x creativity”. The study will assert the marketing communication planning framework along with target audiences, contexts of decision-making strategy, communication requirements, and the development of the IMC campaign Guinness. The Guinness IMC campaign will be analyzed in the study by identifying IMC facets.
Task 1: The role of a context analysis
Analysis through Marketing model framework (Marketing Communication Planning Framework)
Guinness as a beverage company operates to sell their brand product through the DRIP marketing communication model framework which operates on the differentiation service, reinforcement of the brand message, creating awareness about the brand, and persuading customers to behave in a particular way. Under this model of marketing communication, the company has specific brand objectives to be implemented through the rising cost strategy that helps improve the growth value of the sustainable market share. It has an interesting story of a joyful approach regarding ‘Made of More’ providing shifts in perceptions regarding drinking and the cultural directions in the Guinness drinkers (Vernay, Cartel, and Pinkse, 2022). The brand communication strategy has been distinguished through its responsible drinking value operating on the liberty fields and displaying its beverage products along with non-alcoholic products. This is the differential strategy of brand communication that reinforces the power of branding. The rebranding strategy provides information related to the normal water displayed as the ‘cool’ new product sold as “Guinness Clear”. The elements of humor and wit are thus persuasive for customers disinterested in alcoholic beverages to opt for having the other beverages in the shop. The social media influencers are also operating on demonstrating the beverage products for selling their ‘Guinness clear’ products that operate with its two parts including the pub features and the home features extended with ice and extra cold.
Evaluation
Motivations
The motivation factor of the customers is an important indicator of the marketing strategy of the brand. The motivation factor highlights the demand for the product, product safety as well as pricing, and convenience with the exclusiveness of the product features that attract the consumer to making the final purchasing decision (An, Kerr, and Jin, 2019). The brand Made of More of Guinness has incorporated product-based truth statements and powerful stories adding depth & meaning to its commercial goal by raising concern about alcohol drink-oriented societal challenges and cultural factors which motivated the customers and contributed to high ROI-based profitability.
Attitudes
Attitude factors in the marketing of alcoholic products define that customer perception towards the utilization of the product is skeptical because of alcohol-imposed health issues (Barker, Bal, and Murray, 2021). Guinness has harnessed Compton Cowboys campaign-based commercials with a tech-oriented PR strategy highlighting safe drinking approaches by identifying societal challenges and a general transformation in attitudes towards drinking with an opportunity for the brand Made of More to accelerate genuine behavioural change among customers.
Fig-1: Six Nation’s sponsorship of the Guinness brand
(Source: Barker, Bal, and Murray, 2021)
Decision-making characteristics
The Decision-making of the customers for purchasing a particular product is also impacted by the commercial marketing strategies of the brand. Guinness has implemented six nations-based sponsorships by highlighting the “Guinness Clear” goal for moderate alcohol consumption slogans to address safe drinking messages with the help of different true stories based on products to enable a customer-oriented decision-making process.
Cultural context
The marketing commercials of the brand “Made of More” Guinness have played a significant role in the cultural context by showcasing different stories including Gareth & Ashwin (2015), John Hammond (2017), and Compton Cowboys (2018) highlighted the positive portrayal of the black community which gained audience praise as well as the advertising strategy addressed that sincere people across the globe can display their unpredictable sides to enrich social surroundings.
Market integration
Development of IMC campaign for Guinness
The IMC market campaigning strategy is required for implementing the market research development, strategic planning, customer segmentation, selection of marketing channels, implementation of the marketing objectives through creative functions determining the financial budget through ROI analytics by implementing the marketing campaigns. The ways to develop the ROI performance include the reporting process, implementation of media sharing strategies, and providing the market voice for the company to remain within the approximate lesser engaging campaigns where Liberty Fields operates on its earlier market campaigns (Devianti, and Irwansyah, 2020). The observations through Kantar had shown that the post-testing was considered highly revered by alcohol drinkers. It has given the highest-scoring advertisement in that campaign that has later influenced the development of the increase in equity scores in the marketing campaigns.
Award-winning branding strategy
The mitigation of risk strategies has shifted brand behaviors by modifying the storytelling methods through the implementation of the remarkable ROI with the paid branding process. Their PR strategy is essential for the digital promotions of safe drinking and responsible drinking that gets activated, turning the celebration of ‘more’ into the concept of ‘Sometimes, less is more and also promoting alcoholic beverages like beer through films (Barker, Bal, and Murray, 2021). The other ways of branding include promotional strategies through sports events, especially Rugby World Cup matches where their epical story of ‘Made of More’ takes a fresh start developing the culture of responsible drinking that has stood out as an entitlement of the brand strategy operating across spaces and places moving from bar to AV.
Target audiences
The high-income groups of customers with likings for the pop culture, operating through the Rugby matches have shared values with mainstream sports (Bharti, R. and Verma, 2018). Football fans have a bigger audience across fourteen nations.
Communication needs
The communication needs are strategized for implementing the highest GP strategy that provides scope for comparing the ROI of “Guinness Clear” through the traditional promotional communication through advertisement by implementing the PR to implement the digitally governed idea at a lower cost price providing scope for implementing the considerable risks associated with it for not guaranteeing the cost of the shared contents.
Task 2: IMC Campaign Analysis
1. Explore communication objectives within the different stages of the campaign as identified in the case study.
Sustainable distinctiveness
The sustainable distinctiveness of the marketing communication strategies involves the specific communication strategies that help develop the driving operations on the process of measuring salience that leads to implementing the marketing process that helps the company to stand out in the competitive marketplace.
Creative communication
The creative functions in the communication strategies will include the focus on product opportunities that drive the branding motivation for impacting the communication culture. Guinness has a strong association with Rugby events to provide the required brand performance for developing genuine strategies conferring the brand associations to spread its message of responsible drinking (Maani Hessari et al., 2019). The social media marketing strategies are formed with the communicative framework for implementing behavioral change in the drinking habits of customers.
Commercial branding through marketing objectives
The commercial branding objectives are designed to increase the product categories with impacts on the ROI increase that delivers organisational profits at the face of increasing cost price of alcoholic beverage products providing sustainable value to the market share operating across Ireland (Gulver, 2020). The storytelling methods of ‘Made of More’ help improve the branding formula for constructing the challenging features for achieving the business objectives that help operate on building up the flex for the increased growth process in the business organization. The distribution functions across the omnichannel marketing methods involve the new entrant’s strategies that help develop the market competition that is important for recruiting new drinkers living in the media space of entertainment who are familiar with the product brand (Hutchins, Li, and Rowe, 2019). The business company has never settled branding operations that thrive on its experimentation process that helps provide the development of the power consistency that teams with restless marketing people. The true power of commercial branding harnesses the true stories for their depths and meanings transmuting into the later stage of amplifying the ideological functions of operational role play within the cultural strategies for providing the points of view regarding the social issues ranging from marginal to the mainstream cultures leading to the development of the third chapter of ‘Made of More’ in 2018-2019 (Fonkeng, 2021). The cultural resonance has captivated a wider market audience through its diverse representation and incorporation of changing dynamics of gender in promotional advertisements to reach the new generation of drinkers of Guinness.
Capitalization of Rugby’s popularity
The capitalization of Rugby will help to operate on the mainstream cultures of opportunity benefits that deploy the bigger audience for connecting the brand strategy of Guinness with the core values of Rugby (Rehman, Gulzar, and Aslam, 2022). It is the amalgamation of the Power of Guinness DNA with the generous spirit, integrity, communion, and respect of Rugby that develops the resources for capitalization of the company for promoting its sales.
2. Analysis of IMC facets
2.1 Audience strategies: the balance between, push, pull, and profile
Guinness is one of the brands of the alcoholic beverage company Diageo which has increased its market value in the country UK by developing a TV-oriented campaign driving cultural connection and reinforcing its “Made of More” message. The brand Guinness has prospered the brand idea of “Made of More” for eight years as well as the brand has developed a TVC campaign-based advertising strategy to encourage target audiences to go for moderate alcohol drinking habits (Maulana, Kriyantono, and Prasetyo, 2021). The push advertising strategy of this brand highlighted that Guinness used campaign-based digital media channels to “Push” the Made of More brand products to get noticed by the customers whereas the pull advertising strategy of Guinness highlighted different campaigns including Compton Cowboy facilitating storytelling of product truth & brand message to draw customers to its products (Akbar, French, and Lawson, 2019). Profile marketing strategy of the brand Guinness highlighted corporate promotional objectives by highlighting “goodness” in its product to the customers driving gross profit-based ROI of £1 from the period 2012.
Fig-2: Guinness brand
(Source: Barker, Bal, and Murray, 2021)
2.2 Positioning strategies: the brand positioning and differentiation achieved
The marketing advertising strategy of the brand Made of More has been driving Guinness’s long-term promotional strategy contributing to extraordinary financial outcomes for Guinness. Guinness has made available its products in various forms in different markets since 2011 where the brand had five specific global positioning strategies highlighted shifting of time, blending core markets of Great Britain as well as Ireland within the global strategy. With the product, truth-oriented statements like “Good things come to those who wait” have redefined its product-based true stories with the help of different metaphors (Cloud, Clock, and Surge) has contributed to large ROI-based profits (Seifu, 2022). The marketing objective attained by the brand is to drive as well as sustain distinctiveness with salient measures to facilitate the market by standing out in the highly competitive industry.
2.3 Comment on message content, use of semiotics and ways of resonating with the target audiences and cultural appropriateness
Message content
Guinness has boosted its growth with the superior brand ‘Made of More’. The company has flourished with its branding strategy. From the case study, Guinness has profited around £4.81 per £1 in 2012. Clear-led ideas attracted customers with digital innovation. The main objective of the brand is to impose sustainable and creative communication to obtain brand fame. The message content of the brand was to make an impact on the culture and cultural changes by spreading the idea of nominal drinking. The brand also helps to impose the idea of driving the change in drinking behavior. Guinness company along with its brand “Made of More’ wanted the extraordinarily good and full character will prefer Guinness (Gee, 2021). The message was that people who drink Guinness will prefer made of More.
Semiotics
‘Made of More’ work in the award-winning paper has received 180 creative awards in major international festivals. Semiotics is majorly defined as the science-based study of all signs and symbols that have been provided in a culture that interacts with symbols and signs embedded in a brand. This is involved in communication, consumer understanding, packaging, and products of the company (Golder, Garry, and McCambridge, 2020). The uses of semiotics permit the third party to analyze and discuss the media insights in a more organized manner. Barthes tri-model is one of the major approaches to semiotics. The model includes three phases, signifier, signified, and myth.
Communication with target audiences from the cultural aspect
Interpretation of media knowledge, media text, and literal discussion of a media text is known as a signifier phrase. The signified level requires the knowledge and understanding required. Myth requires a cultural understanding of media text. The brand is the most effective communication platform in the modern environment. The two advertisements are viewed as signifier levels that encourage seeing the particular setting of play whereas, this includes background along with musical instruments (Odeigah et al., 2021). At the signified level the game was played as Rugby and basketball which is inspirational. Myth level defined loyal and focused advertisements as an inspiration to deviate from cultural values. The target audiences are majorly general alcohol-consuming society contrasting the male population. The consumer feels strong, genuine, masculine independent.
Figure 3: Attributes of Guinness
(Source: Odeigah et al., 2021)
Figure 4: Semiotic analysis
(Source: Atkinson et al., 2022)
2.4 Analyse the tools and media used to achieve the objectives by identifying the Paid, Owned, Earned, and Converged Media
Paid
Paid media denotes external marketing efforts that will lead to involvement in a paid placement like pay-per-click advertisements, displaying ads, and branded content. Paid media will help the campaign grow revenue and increase brand awareness for online businesses.
Owned
Owned media will help the company control the websites, catalogs, communication strategy, blogs, and newsletters. Social media platforms will be more effective and helpful for the brand ‘Made of More’ (Atkinson et al., 2022). This will help to grow the company’s production and sales through social channels and audiences. It is word of mouth.
Earned
Social media platforms can be the way for the digital engagement of customers. Earned media will help to create attention that media will earn and generate the value of the brand and does not require payment (Jernigan, and Ross, 2020). Posting photos and videos does not require any payment. This would be effective for marketing media.
Converged Media
Interconnection of information, phenomena of communication technology and media content, and computer networks is the media convergence for the company.
Figure 5: Media tools (paid, owned, earned, and converged media)
(Source: Jernigan, and Ross, 2020)
Conclusion
The study has assessed the case study of the Guinness alcohol company’s renowned brand advertisement “Made of More”. Creativity and consistency have been created in the study. IMC facets of the campaign have been represented. Along with its strategy and promotional strategy. The involvement of the media and different branding strategies has been discussed. Overall marketing communication framework has been discussed concretely.
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