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Made of Black - Guinness' New Re-Launch Pad [analysis](AllAfrica Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Raheem Akingbolu takes a look at the Guinness' new campaign, #Made of Black, concluding that it could be the winning card of the brewer to further entrench itself in the African market. In conceptualisation, setting and characterisation, the 'Made of Black' campaign recently launched by Guinness is a wake up call to consumers of Guinness in Africa that the brand is their own. In a way, the handlers of the brand play up the positive side of the word 'black', which has often times been used to connote negativity. The general perception until recent time was that pool our black is not pleasant. As a result of this, the black nations are regarded as second class people. While 'black' is regarded as absurd, 'white' is regarded to stand for purity and holiness. Phasing suffered condemnation as a result of their colour, early writers and nationalists in Africa have devoted publications to raise their voices and condemn the perception and the embarrassment they suffer in the hands of their white counterparts. In many books, they try to let the world knows that beyond the belief that African are evil and criminal in nature, the people have a lot of good attributes. That Guinness has stayed glue to black is patriotic, giving the fact that many brands consider it a no-go area. That is why colours; like yellow, blue, white and even red have consistently being used as positioning identities. Before the recent campaign, others like 'My friend Udeme', "Fly with the Eagles', and 'Michael Power', have also spoken volumes of the respect the brand has for black. Guinness Nigeria Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Seni Adetu, disclosed at the launch that #madeofblack redefined black not as a colour but as an attitude that inspires people to greater heights. He said: "We have signed up some of the finest acts in the entertainment industry; these unique individuals are made of more, made of attitude, made of swag; simply they are Made of Black," Historical background Irrespective of the negative perception associated with black, it is noteworthy that black was one of the first colors used by artists in Neolithic cave paintings. In the 14th century, it began to be worn by royalty, the clergy, judges and government officials in much of Europe. It became the color worn by English romantic poets, businessmen and statesmen in the 19th century, and a high fashion color in the 20th century. In most ancient empire, it became the color of mourning, and over the centuries it was frequently associated with death, evil, witches and magic but in the Western world today which is predominantly compose of the white race, it is also the color most commonly associated with mourning, evil, magic, the end, violence, power, secrets, and elegance despite that people of the white colour also engages in some of these untoward treats. It is in this regard that the new global campaign, #Made of Black Guinness, is applauded as a subtle attempt to change the perception. The ad runs at over two minutes long and features a range of African performers and artists. It is set to a soundtrack of Kanye West's Black Skinhead. The spot launched on MTV Base, as part of a four-hour takeover by Guinness on the channel, which featured guest appearances by musicians including Fuse ODG and Phynot was flagged of and sparked debates on whether black is a colour or an attitude with the aim of inspiring the youth to achieve greatness and overcome limitations. The new Ad campaign - Made of Black- was launched across key markets in Africa with a takeover of MTV Base. The co-produced Guinness/MTV Base show was broadcast simultaneously on 12 satellite and terrestrial channels across Africa. This was the kick start to an extensive through-the-line campaign (a marketing campaign that combines both expensive activities like national TV adverts ('above the line') and less/inexpensive activities like direct mail executions ('below the line') which is rolling out across Nigeria, Ghana and Cameroon to promote key conversations around "what is BLACK" in a new positioning for Guinness on this continent. Conceptualisation and synopsis The new campaign was created by ISOBAR SSA, a global digital agency, in collaboration with a UK Ad agency which is the third largest agency network in the world, AMV BBDO, with a new message to reposition the back race. Described as simple, yet mammoth task when the instruction was to re-position Guinness in the African market, the Group Planning Director, Isobar, SSA, Michael Zylstra said: "Africa is about creativity; we do and see things from a different perspective. It's about working together to harness creativity that speaks to all. For us it was more than just producing incredible work, it was about starting and then sustaining key dialogue on our continent about what being BLACK means. It was about embracing the unique cultures of Africa and tailoring approaches to those individualised markets whilst also introducing the concept as part of our languages, our culture and harnessing the true African creative spirit. "Black is not a colour - it's an attitude. It was not about launching a hashtag and a website that had an interactive platform. The campaign celebrates 'Black'. Black is not a colour. Black is an attitude. It's a mind-set, it's a way of life. Black represents the best of Africa. It features real people with real talent from Lagos, Accra and Cape Town to Nairobi, Gaborone and Johannesburg. People who are made of Black are people who are made of more", says Zylstra. He said within the first 6 hours of launching the campaign the #madeofblack had sparked over 22 000 conversations. "We estimate that by the end of the launch six week phase, we will have achieved over a million conversations," he said. The team at Isobar has built an incredible home for the campaign online, as well as, producing over 20 video pieces which run both on TV and online. These stories are well worth a watch - interesting characters across Africa share what defines their "Made of Black. On the local adaptation of the campaign to suit various market, the Managing Director and Chief Executive, Guinness Nigeria Plc, Mr. Seni Adetu said the new #made of more campaign by Guinness will also ignite the Nigerian spirit and the choice of musical stars Phyno, Olamide and Eva as the campaign ambassador is to encourage everyone to positively show what they are made of and what makes them unique. Adetu said Guinness is positioning black not just as a colour but an emblem of uniqueness for which Africans and indeed Nigerians are known for. The Head, Consumer Planning And Research, Guinness Nigeria Plc, Ms. Tayo Salami, further explains why the campaign was developed, "This campaign has been in development for almost two years and we have strived to create a campaign that we will reverberate with and also shine a light on a movement that has been created by a new generation of Africans whose boldness cannot be contained. #Madeofblack is not about colour; Black is an attitude," he said. As things stand, the campaign may end up being the joker the Guinness brand has been waiting for to extend its frontiers in the African market. A patron of the brand, Mr. Michael Obong, commended it as a patriotic move to identify with the black race. Obong, a bar tender in Lagos described it as a follow up to 'My Friend Udeme' a similar campaign that attracted global applause a few years ago. A peep into the past On the global scene, Guinness is a very prominent account that has been handled by the best advertising agencies in the advertising industry like Ogilvy & Mather, J Walter Thomson and SH Benson amongst others. They have in their different ways contributed to the production and advertising of the various campaigns for the Guinness account that have been very captivating engaging and successful in their own different ways. In Nigeria, SO & U has, for many years worked on the creative of the company while it's PR has exchanged many hands. 'Guinness first started advertising in 1928, using the simple slogan 'Guinness is good for you' ...'Guinness is good for you' remained the dominant theme of Guinness advertising for the next 40 years with famous artists and writers like John Gilroy, Rex Whistler, Hoffnung, Bateman and Dorothy L Sayers contributing words and pictures. The appearance of commercial TV in 1955 demanded a more sophisticated approach to advertising, which started with an animated version of the Gilroy commercials. By 1969, Guinness advertising was a series of strikingly simple radio and TV commercials, including the talking toucan reinforcing the product's uniqueness. After the Toucan advertisements, Allen Brady and Marsh produced the 'Guinness' campaign, which first appeared in 1983. In 2009, the Newswire Europe Limited stated that within three months the Guinness campaign had achieved 87 per cent awareness amongst all adults. The publication stated that; "Amongst the brand's advertising campaigns and well known tag lines are the artist John Gilroy's menagerie of animals, including the popular Toucan, Sea Lion and Ostrich characters, the 1930's 'Guinness for Strength' adverts, 'My Goodness My Guinness' (1935), Pure Genius (1985), 'Good Things Come To Those Who Wait, 'Guinness is Good for You', 'Not Everything in Black And White Makes Sense' and 'It's Alive Inside'. As the Guinness Company expanded into new markets, hugely successful advertising campaigns also reached out to new consumers such as with the 'Brilliant' campaign in the US and the 'Michael Power' campaign in Africa" Copyright This Day. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). |