Limerick Senior College of Further Education

Marketing with French MLXX

Module: Marketing

Assignment

Investigation of Marketing Mix

Examiner: Ruth Macken

Author: Karolina Tutlyte
Submission Date: 08/03/2010

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Table of Contents
Table of Contents...........................................................................................................2

Terms of reference.........................................................................................................3

Introduction....................................................................................................................4

Guinness background information.................................................................................6

The Marketing Mix Concept..........................................................................................9

Guinness Marketing Mix..............................................................................................12

Product.....................................................................................................................12
Pricing......................................................................................................................16
Place.........................................................................................................................17
Promotion.................................................................................................................18
Guinness ......................................................................................................................21

Guinness...............................................................................................................22
Draught Guinness®..................................................................................................23
Conclusion....................................................................................................................28

However (BBC website) identified that they spend too much on ads and not enough

on profits but they are trying to rectify this problem and concentrate on selling the

product rather than promoting it..................................................................................28

Bibliography.................................................................................................................29

Appendix......................................................................................................................30

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Terms of reference

This report as requested by Cliona O’Kelly Marketing Practice Tutor in

Limerick College of Further Education to choose a product and investigate the
marketing mix in relation to this product. Evidence will include the application
of all elements of the marketing mix.

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Introduction

This is a second assignment for marketing module and it is gained on different

investigations. Marketing Mix was a big part of Marketing module, big chapter in
book which students were suggested to read. In general, in order to understand
Marketing students have to analyse it in a particular way without any knowledge any
investigations can not be made.

To start with, we have to identify what is Marketing Mix.

The term 'marketing mix' was first used in 1953 when Neil Borden, in his American
Marketing Association presidential address, took the recipe idea one step further and
coined the term "marketing-mix".

According to Kotler “it is the set of controllable tactical Marketing tools that the firm
blends to produce the response it wants in the target market. Marketing mix consists
of everything the firm can do to influence the demand for its product.” The many
possibilities gather into four groups of variables know as the “four Ps”:
• Product- anything that can be offered to a market for attention,
acquisition, use or consumption that might satisfy a want or need. It
includes physical objectives, services, persons, places, organisations
and ideas.
• Price- the amount of money charged for a product or service, or the
sum of the values that consumers exchange for the benefits of having
or using the product or service.
• Place- activities that make product or service available to target
customers.
• Promotion- activities that communicate the product or service and its
merits to target customers and persuade them to buy.

These four P's are the parameters that the marketing manager can control, subject to
the internal and external constraints of the marketing environment. The goal is to

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make decisions that centre the four P's on the customers in the target market in order
to create perceived value and generate a positive response.

For this assignment I chose to analyse Ireland’s originated and world famous beer-
Guinness. People at all times like to relax and have a nice drink, in my opinion beer is
the most suitable alcohol to enjoy at home or in the bar, club, etc. Guinness is a very
different beer compared to its competitors, because of its recipe, the taste made this
beer very popular in the entire world for the last 250 years!

Specific research objectives:

• To identify product life-cycle, brand strength, values and messages which are
sent to consumers (Three product levels- Core, Actual and Augmented).
• To determine CORE level for a product, also the forces
• To determine pricing strategies and tactics,
• To identify which distributions channels are used, to find out the place where
product is sold.
• Link to promotion- to find out which communication messages, methods,
media, advertising, promotional tools are used.

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Guinness background information
Guinness is a popular Irish dry stout that originated in the brewery of Arthur
Guinness (1725–1803) at St. James's Gate, Dublin. Guinness is based on the porter
style that originated in London in the early 18th century and is one of the most
successful beer brands worldwide. A distinctive feature is the burnt flavour which is
derived from the use of roasted barley. For many years a portion of the drink was
aged to give a sharp lactic flavour, although Guinness has refused to confirm whether
this still occurs. The thick creamy head is the result of the beer being mixed with
nitrogen when being poured. It is popular with Irish people both in Ireland and abroad
and, in spite of a decline in consumption over recent years, it is still the best-selling
alcoholic drink in Ireland where Guinness & Co. makes almost €2 billion annually.

The parent company has been headquartered in London since 1932 and was later
merged with Grand Metropolitan plc and developed into a multi-national alcohol
conglomerate named Diageo.

Arthur Guinness the founder was an entrepreneur, visionary and philanthropist.

Guinness laid the foundations for Guinness Brewery. At 27, in 1752, Guinness's
employer Arthur Price, the Archbishop of Cashel, bequeathed him £100 in his will.
Guinness invested the money and in 1755 had a brewery at Leixlip, just 17 km from
Dublin. In 1759, Guinness went to the city and set up his own business. He got a
9,000 year lease on the four-acre brewery at St. James's Gate from Mark Rainsford for
an annual rent of £45.

Diageo plc is the largest multinational beer, wine and spirits company in the world.
Its head office is located in the City of Westminster in London. The company has
American Depositary Receipts listed on the New York Stock Exchange, and is listed
on the London Stock Exchange where it is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.
Besides Guinness Diageo other famous drinks include Smirnoff Vodka, Captain
Morgan, and Jonnie Walker to name a few.

Diageo was formed in 1997 from the merger of Guinness plc and Grand Metropolitan
plc. The creation was driven by the two executives Anthony Greener and Philip Yea

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at Guinness plus George Bull and John McGrath of Grand Metropolitan. The product
portfolios of Guinness and Grand Met were largely complementary with little overlap.

Grand Metropolitan plc is a former United Kingdom-based company operating

hotels, holiday centres, entertainment centres, public houses and casinos. The
company was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the
FTSE 100 Index until it merged with Guinness plc to form Diageo in 1997.

Some historical facts about the Guinness

1906 GUINNESS® feeds 10,000 mouths.

There are 3,240 employees at the brewery. About 10,000 people are dependent on the
GUINNESS® brewery for their livelihood - 1 in 30 of the population of Dublin.

1914 Total foreign sales reach 100,000.

35,000 to North America, 35,000 to Australia, with South Africa the 3rd biggest
market. Exports represented 5% of all Guinness sold.

1929 'Guinness is Good For You.'

First ever advertisement for GUINNESS® with the slogan “Guinness is Good For
You” is published in the British national press. This was soon followed by
advertisements featuring the cartoon characters created by John Gilroy. His famous
series of posters of the distraught zookeeper and his mischievous animals carried the
line 'My Goodness, My Guinness’.

1949 The African connection.

Guinness Nigeria is set up to import and market GUINNESS® in Nigeria. Nigeria is
already a big market and discussions take place to consider putting a bottling line
there.
1975 More new GUINNESS® breweries.

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1976 to 1985 a number of breweries opened around the world. Brewing begins in:
Cote D'Ivoire (under contract).Guyana, St. Kitts (under contract, by St. Kitts
Brewery), Singapore (under contract by Asia Pacific Breweries). Haiti, Bahamas,
Indonesia (under contract by PT. Multi Bintang Indonesia), South Africa, Tanzania,
Togo (under contract by Brasseries du Benin).

1985 Pure advertising Genius.

Launch of the Pure Genius Campaign, which includes the 'Man with the Guinness' TV
commercials developed by Ogilvy & Mather for the UK (starring Rutger Hauer).
Similar style commercials are also well received in overseas markets.

1992 Thousands of Irish pubs exported.

The concept of the Irish Pub takes hold in Europe. By 1995, there are 1500
GUINNESS® Irish Pubs and by 1998, 2500 all over the world, selling GUINNESS®
Draught.
2006 Scrum down for GUINNESS® in Ireland
The makers of GUINNESS® become a Proud Sponsor of Irish Rugby in a four year
deal (beginning in the 06/07 season).

2007 10 Million glasses of GUINNESS® are enjoyed every day.

GUINNESS® is sold in over 150 countries around the world.
2009 250 years of a great brewing tradition.

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The Marketing Mix Concept

Product Life Cycle

A new product progresses through a sequence of stages from introduction to growth,

maturity, and decline. This sequence is known as the product life cycle and is
associated with changes in the marketing situation, thus impacting the marketing
strategy and the marketing mix.

Product Life Cycle Diagram

Introduction Stage
In the introduction stage, the firm seeks to build product awareness and develop a
market for the product. The impact on the marketing mix is as follows:
• Product branding and quality level is established and intellectual property
protection such as patents and trademarks are obtained.
• Pricing may be low penetration pricing to build market share rapidly, or high
skim pricing to recover development costs.
• Distribution is selective until consumers show acceptance of the product.
• Promotion is aimed at innovators and early adopters. Marketing
communications seeks to build product awareness and to educate potential
consumers about the product.

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Growth Stage

In the growth stage, the firm seeks to build brand preference and increase market
share.

• Product quality is maintained and additional features and support services

may be added.
• Pricing is maintained as the firm enjoys increasing demand with little
competition.
• Distribution channels are added as demand increases and customers accept
the product.
• Promotion is aimed at a broader audience.

Maturity Stage

At maturity, the strong growth in sales diminishes. Competition may appear with
similar products. The primary objective at this point is to defend market share while
maximizing profit.

• Product features may be enhanced to differentiate the product from that of

competitors.
• Pricing may be lower because of the new competition.
• Distribution becomes more intensive and incentives may be offered to
encourage preference over competing products.
• Promotion emphasizes product differentiation.

Decline Stage

As sales decline, the firm has several options:

• Maintain the product, possibly rejuvenating it by adding new features and

finding new uses.
• Harvest the product - reduce costs and continue to offer it, possibly to a loyal
niche segment.

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 • Discontinue the product, liquidating remaining inventory or selling it to
another firm that is willing to continue the product.

The marketing mix decisions in the decline phase will depend on the selected strategy.
For example, the product may be changed if it is being rejuvenated, or left unchanged
if it is being harvested or liquidated. The price may be maintained if the product is
harvested, or reduced drastically if liquidated.

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Guinness Marketing Mix

Product

Goods or services?

The Beer Guinness is definitely goods.

Products can be classified in few ways; as a result my chosen product “Guinness” is

non-durable goods, in other words it’s consumed by drinking.
The product mix is suitable for Guinness because it includes its stouts, ales and lagers.
To cite an example as ale category there are three brands: Smithwick’s, Kilkenny and
Macardle’s. It is known that all those three brands are retailed in draught, bottled and
canned form. As a result of product mix there is such ‘forms’ as width, length and
depth.
“Depth describes the number of variations of each product that is offered”
Varieties
Guinness Original/Extra Stout

Guinness stout is available in a number of variants and strengths, which include:

• Guinness Draught, sold in kegs, widget cans, and bottles: 4.1 to 4.3% alcohol
by volume (ABV); the Extra Cold is served through a super cooler at 3.5°C
(38.3°F)
• Guinness Original/Extra Stout: 4.2 or 4.3% ABV in Ireland and the rest of
Europe, 4.1% in Germany, 4.8% in Namibia and South Africa), 5% in the
United States and Canada, and 6% in Australia and Japan.
• Guinness Foreign Extra Stout: 7.5% ABV version sold in Europe, Africa, the
Caribbean and Asia. The basis is an unfermented but hopped Guinness would
extract shipped from Dublin, which is added to local ingredients and brewed
locally. The strength can vary, for example, it is sold at 5% ABV in China,
6.5% ABV in Jamaica and East Africa, and 8% ABV in Singapore. In Nigeria
a proportion of sorghum is used. Foreign Extra Stout is blended with a small
amount of intentionally soured beer.
• Guinness Special Export Stout, Commissioned by John Martin of Belgium in
1912.[ The first variety of Guinness to be pasteurised, in 1930

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 • Guinness Bitter, an English-style bitter beer: 4.4% ABV.
• Guinness Extra Smooth, a smoother stout sold in Ghana, Cameroon and
Nigeria: 5.5% ABV.
• Malta Guinness, a non-alcoholic sweet drink, produced in Nigeria and
exported to the UK and Malaysia.
• Guinness Mid-Strength, a low-alcohol stout test-marketed in Limerick, Ireland
in March 2006[ and Dublin from May 2007: 2.8% ABV.
• Kaliber, a premium alcohol-free lager. It is brewed as a full strength lager;
then at the end of the brewing process, the alcohol is removed: 0.05% ABV.
• Guinness Red, brewed in exactly the same way as Guinness except that the
barley is only lightly roasted so that it produces a lighter, slightly fruitier red
ale; test-marketed in Britain in February 2007: 4.1% ABV.
• 250 Anniversary Stout, released in the U.S., Australia and Singapore on 24
April 2009; 5% ABV.

In October 2005, Guinness announced the Brewhouse Series, a limited-edition

collection of draught stouts available for roughly six months each. There were three
beers in the series.

• Brew 39 was sold in Dublin from late 2005 until early 2006. It had the same
alcohol content (ABV) as Guinness Draught, used the same gas mix and
settled in the same way, but had a slightly different taste. Many found it to be
lighter in taste, somewhat closer to Beamish stout than standard Irish
Guinness.

• Toucan Brew was introduced in May 2006. It was named after the cartoon
toucan used in many Guinness advertisements. This beer had a crisper taste
with a slightly sweet aftertaste due to its triple-hopped brewing process.

• North Star was introduced in October 2006 and sold until into late 2007.
Three million pints of North Star were sold in the latter half of 2007[38].

Introduction Stage
In its introduction stage, Guinness sought to build product awareness and develop a
market for the product. There impact on the marketing mix is as follows:

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Guinness product branding and quality level was quickly established and its
intellectual property protection such as patents and trademarks were obtained.
Guinness quality was immediately liked by consumers which saw it sword in
popularity in its early days and Author Guinness cunningly sought a 9000 year lease
for an annual rent of 45. In 1725 Guinness ensured the average person could afford
Guinness over other competitors’ alcoholic drinks. And they maintained this price
comparison up through the years; in 1900 it costs just 3d (pence) and today is in line
or below its competitors in price.

Growth Stage
Consumers quickly showed acceptance of the product. It started just selling in Ireland
and in 1769 the first barrel of Guinness was exported to England. To illustrate its
popularity by the early 1800’s it was very popular among most European countries
and even as far as Barbados, America, Africa and India to name a few. And by 1914
50% of Guinness sold in America was bottled locally. They cleverly setup all bottling
factories all over the world reducing shipping costs.
Maturity Stage

Guinness unlike other products has been around for over 250 years and it’s difficult to
pin point an exact maturity stage. However we can safely say since the 18th century to
the present day it has being top of the alcoholic beer drinks worldwide.

Decline Stage

In 1999 for the first time since in its 241 year history, sales fell. In 2001 its homeland
country “Ireland” and its neighbouring country “UK” started to decline. This was
because of its consumers deciding to drink at home, and since Guinness from a pint is
much different than a can regular Guinness pub drinker opted for a different drink at
home. The past 10 years have seen the amount of Guinness drunk in the republic
decline by almost 30%. In the UK, where Guinness is the third most popular pub
drink, sales of the stout in the second half of 2007 increased by 3% in a period that
included the first five months of a ban on smoking in English pubs - regulation that
has hit wider beer sales. The UK beer market shrank by 5% over the same period. So
although sales could be better it seems to be external factors affecting the entire

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alcohol industry. Last year, bar sales had reduced to 56% of total beer sales and the
figure is expected to drop below 50% this year.

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Pricing

However to counteract this Guinness decided to heighten their marketing campaign

which saw them win advertising awards.

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Place

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Promotion

To the last ‘P’ I am going to talk about how my chosen product’s company tries to
communicate with its customers because al the time need attention for the product,
promote it, get more and more customers to choose particular product.

However, without communications with customers would be hard to keep a product

‘alive’ in other words could happen that product would reach the decline stage in the
product life cycle or the company would not get any profit.

Communication describes the transmission of a message from a sender to a receiver.

Marketing Communications Process:

• Identify target audience
• Determine Communication objectives
• Design message
• Select communication channel
• Select promotion mix
• Evaluate results

Guinness has strong communications with its customers. Target audience was
identified more than 200 years ago. What is Guinness? It is alcohol, so it is known
that alcohol is sold for audience older than 18 years. Obviously Guinness target
market is to everyone over eighteen years old, but as a fact, Guinness is more popular
between middle age and old people groups. In fact, “one-third of young Irish people
(age 18 to 24 years) had reportedly never tried Guinness”

Communications message encoding tries to put message into symbolic form. The
sender could use words, pictures, images or any combination of these to make sure
that the message will receive the customer.
To illustrate Guinness communication message we have to ‘put eye’ on its history -
according to researching how Guinness effects the health- conclusion was made that
one pint of Guinness is healthy. Therefore, message to customers was sent and used in
advertising campaigns that “Guinness is good for you”. Nowadays there are more
ways used how to communicate with customers.
Despite this fact, the Guinness Storehouse was opened in Dublin in late 2000; it is a
huge building for Guinness fans all over the world. The Storehouse is fashionable
visitor centre with an art gallery and restaurants, regularly hosting thousands of
visitors.

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According to R. Ardill, the Storehouse director, “Guinness Storehouse is a way to
get in touch with a new generation to help young people re-evaluate Guinness”.
This is one of the best ways how company can communicate with its customers.

Promotional Mix:
Using several different types of communication to support marketing goals which
include:

When deciding how to properly utilize the marketing communications mix to meet
your marketing objectives, it is important to consider the relative strengths and
weaknesses of each component of the mix. Further, it is necessary to define total
budget first (generally defined in the Marketing and/or Business Plan) and then decide
upon the best way to leverage the different elements of the mix to maximize the return
on your investment. Need to balance the various parts of the mix to not only create an
integrated approach to specific marketing communications but also devote enough
resources for each component to be successful.

Briefly I am going to talk about every step of Promotional mix and how it is used to
my chosen product- Guinness.

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Advertising - Any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas,
goods, or services.
Types: Brand advertising; Cooperative advertising; Corporative advertising.
Advantages: Reaches large, geographically dispersed audiences, often with high
frequency; Low cost per exposure, though overall costs are high; Consumers perceive
advertised goods as more legitimate; Dramatizes company/brand; Builds brand image;
may stimulate short-term sales.
Disadvantages: Impersonal, one-way communication; Expensive.

Advertising Media: Outdoor advertising; TV; Radio; Presses, Cinema; Public

transport; Internet.

Personal selling- Personal presentation by the firm’s sales force for the purpose of
making sales and building customer relationships.
Most effective tool for building buyers’ preferences, convictions, and actions;
Personal interaction allows for feedback and adjustments; Relationship-oriented;
Buyers are more attentive; Sales force represents a long-term commitment; Most
expensive of the promotional tools.

Sales promotion – Short-term incentives to encourage the purchase or sale of a

product or service.
May be targeted at the trade or ultimate consumer; Makes use of a variety of formats:
premiums, coupons, contests, etc.; Attracts attention, offers strong purchase
incentives, dramatizes offers, boosts sagging sales; Stimulates quick response; Short-
lived; Not effective at building long-term brand preferences.

Public relations- Building good relationships with the company’s various publics
by obtaining favourable publicity, building up a good "corporate image", and
handling or heading off unfavourable rumours, stories, and events.
Highly credible; Very believable; Many forms: news stories, news features, events
and sponsorships, etc.; Reaches many prospects missed via other forms of promotion;
Dramatizes company or product; Often the most under used element in the

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promotional mix; Relatively inexpensive (certainly not 'free' as many people think--
there are costs involved.

Direct marketing – Direct communications with carefully targeted individual

consumers to obtain an immediate response and cultivate lasting customer
relationships.
Highly credible; Very believable; Many forms: news stories, news features, events
and sponsorships, etc.; Reaches many prospects missed via other forms of promotion;
Dramatizes company or product; Often the most under used element in the
promotional mix; Relatively inexpensive (certainly not 'free' as many people think--
there are costs involved.

How does promotional mix link with the product life cycle?

Pre-Introduction: Light advertising, pre-introduction publicity

Introduction: Heavy use of advertising, public relations for awareness, sales

promotion for trial.

Growth: Advertising, public relations, branding and brand marketing, personal

selling for distribution.

Maturity: Advertising decreases, sales promotion, personal selling, reminder &

persuasion.

Decline: Advertising and public relations decrease, limited sales promotion, personal
selling for distribution.

Guinness

Guinness is one of the world's best-known beer brands, and one of the key drinks in
Diageo's global portfolio. Yet Guinness's reputation is arguably much bigger than
its sales would suggest.

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Guinness

One of the Guinness advertising posters from the Gilroy Era of the 40's

Guinness' iconic stature can be attributed in part to its advertising campaigns. One of
the most notable and recognizable series of adverts was created by Benson's
advertising, primarily John Gilroy, in the 1930s and 40s. Gilroy was responsible for
creating posters which included such phrases such as "Guinness for Strength", "It's a
Lovely Day for a Guinness", and, most famously, "Guinness is Good For You". The
posters featured Gilroy's distinctive artwork and more often than not featured animals
such as a kangaroo, ostrich, seal, lion, and notably a toucan, which has become as
much a symbol of Guinness as the Trinity College Harp. Another famous campaign
more recently is the surfer ad on the television. Regarded by many as the most
successful and amazingly produced TV ad of all time, it's cinematography and
underlying message of the fact that patience is a good thing (good things come to
those who wait) contribute to the imagination and creativity of the ad. Guinness
advertising paraphernalia attracts high prices on the collectible market. In a campaign
reminiscent of viral marketing techniques, one advert quickly appeared as a
screensaver distributed over the Internet. It was a simple concept, featuring Dublin
actor Joe McKinney dancing around the drink while it was given time to settle. The
accompanying music (mambo tune Guaglione by Pérez Prado) was released as a
single and reached number one on the Irish charts and number two on the UK charts
in May 1995.

In Malaysia, Singapore, and Hong Kong, Guinness launched an $8 million advertising

campaign using the fictional character of Adam King to promote the embodiment of
Guinness as a man could be incredibly powerful. The advertising campaign was
handled by advertising firm, Saatchi & Saatchi.[10]

In Africa, the character of Michael Power has been used since 1999 to boost sales.

Today, Guinness' principal television campaign in North America consists of limited

animation commercials featuring two eccentric scientists in 19th century dress
complimenting one another's ideas as "brilliant!"

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Draught Guinness®

Swirling clouds tumble as the storm begins to calm. Settle. Breathe in the moment,
and then break through the smooth, light head to the bittersweet reward.
Unmistakeably GUINNESS®, from the first velvet sip to the last, lingering drop. And
every deep-dark satisfying mouthful in between.
Pure beauty. Pure GUINNESS®.

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The number of pints of Guinness sold in Ireland was flat for the second half of last
year, after falling 7% for the previous 12 months.

Rugby sponsorship and new Guinness pint-glass-shaped fridges in off licences have
also helped the recovery.

But improved performance for Guinness came only after a 20% increase in marketing
spend. Some industry insiders have questioned whether this investment was justified
by the returns.

Diageo finance director Nick Rose accepted there may be more obvious profit growth
to exploit in other brands in faster-growing markets but he emphasised the importance
of defending Guinness, which remains a top profit contributor for the group. "If you
give up on it, even modest rates of decline can have a big impact on the bottom line,"
he said.

Diageo said current levels of marketing spending would continue at least until the
summer, and it is confident that recent performance can be maintained. However, the
company acknowledges the drink faces challenging times.

In the UK, and more so in Ireland, Guinness is best known as a draught drink rather
than a take-home beer. In the UK some 80% of pints of beer were sold across the bar
counter, with low-margin off licence and supermarket sales accounting for 20%.

Asked about the impact on sales of the economic slowdown that has been spreading
from the US, Walsh said: "We are not immune, but you have to remember that we sell
affordable indulgence." He suggested regular customers were unlikely to cut back on
purchases such as Johnnie Walker. "A typical customer buys about three bottles a
year for in-home consumption. Are you really going to give up something so
treasured? I don't think so."

The company posted a 7% rise in half-year net sales to £4.3bn and a 5% increase in
pre-tax profit to £1.37bn. It expects to deliver 9% operating profit growth for the full
year.

Three levels of the product (Actual features):

1. Core level
2. Actual level
3. Augmented level

Brand

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A brand has been defined by de Chernatony and McDonald (1993)” as an identifiable
product, service, person or place augmented in such a way that the buyer or user
perceives relevant unique added values that much their needs most closely”

An effective brand strategy gives a major edge in increasingly competitive markets.

Brand is a promise to a customer. It tells them what they can expect from your
products and services, and it differentiates your offering from that of your
competitors. Brand is derived from who you are, who you want to be and who people
perceive you to be.

Are you the innovative maverick in your industry? Or the experienced, reliable one?
Is your product the high-cost, high-quality option, or the low-cost, high-value option?
You can't be both, and you can't be all things to all people. Who you are should be
based to some extent on what the customers want and need you to be.

The foundation of a brand is a logo. Of course the website, packaging and

promotional materials--all of which should integrate a logo--communicate your
brand.

In general, brand strategy is how, what, where, when and to whom you plan on
communicating and delivering on your brand messages. Therefore, where products
advertised is part of a brand strategy. Distribution channels are also part of a brand
strategy. And what you communicate visually and verbally are part of your brand
strategy, too.

Consistent, strategic branding leads to a strong brand equity, which means the added
value brought to your company's products or services that allows you to charge more
for your brand than what identical, unbranded products command. The most obvious
example of this is Coke vs. a generic soda. Because Coca-Cola has built powerful
brand equity, it can charge more for its product--and customers will pay that higher
price.

The added value intrinsic to brand equity frequently comes in the form of perceived
quality or emotional attachment. For example, Nike associates its products with star
athletes; hoping customers will transfer their emotional attachment from the athlete to
the product.

Brand strength

Message

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26
Drinks group Diageo stated sales of Guinness are rising steadily, helped by an
increase in marketing investment, including new advertising campaigns.

Global Guinness sales were up 6% also gaining market share in Britain and Ireland.
Irish Guinness sales grew by 3% and gained 1.3 percentage points of market share.

Diageo has been reviewing its Irish manufacturing businesses, leading to speculation
that brewing could be moved from the historic St James’s Gate site.

Diageo Ireland managing director Michael Ioakimides has said the company wanted
to remain in Ireland. Also stating that the review was continuing, adding that the
''passion'' for the Guinness brand and the history associated with St James’s Gate was
being taken into account.

Diageo chief executive Paul Walsh spoke of ''huge respect'' for the authenticity and
origins of Guinness, and the company would not do anything to put that at risk. But
he refused to comment on wether Guinness would still be brewed at St James’s Gate
in two years'' time.

Meanwhile, Diageo reported pre-tax profits of £1.37 billion for the six months to the
end of December, up just over 5% on the same period the year before. Net sales were
up 7%, and sales by volume were up 4%.

#
Conclusion
A big marketing effort for Guinness, including the award-winning Tipping Point
advert, has helped bring an end to years of falling sales volumes in the stout's home
market of Ireland.

TALK about new ads

However (BBC website) identified that they spend too much on ads and not enough
on profits but they are trying to rectify this problem and concentrate on selling
the product rather than promoting it
The advantage of Guinness over its competitors is that it’s actually good for you. It
has been scientifically proved that 1 pint of Guinness a day is good for your body,
with this in mind consumers tend to purchase Guinness over other drinks and after 1
pint consumers will tend to have another.

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Bibliography

Shimp, Terence A., Advertising, Promotion and Supplemental Aspects of

Integrated Marketing Communications, Dryden Press, Orlando, 5th Edition,

29
Appendix

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