We spotted this from Diageo in the FT regarding Guinness's self-confessed revival, thanks to women and younger drinkers. According to their Chief Exec, so-called “Guinnfluencers” have been credited for their role in driving the 24% uplift in women drinking Guinness (with growth driven largely by consumers aged 25-45 in the UK and Ireland).
This A) is interesting and, B) represents an evolution in the role of influencers and attribution.
The role of influence(rs) - are they drivers of audience growth or reflective of existing, shifting behaviours?
I’m personally core to the growth audience and yes, I’m drinking more Guinness than I was a year ago… but is it because I’ve been #influenced or was the behavioural shift already happening and I’ve been exposed to consistently positive, social and digital reinforcement…
Cyclical or symptomatic. Chicken and egg... It’s unclear.
Either way, what IS clear is we can't ignore what’s happening, it's how brands grow…
Guinness’s goal wasn’t to target women or a younger demographic rather a focus on growing and expanding the audience to reach more potential consumers (whoever they may be). Makes sense - be visible to more, see who sticks.
And yes, they’re a big brand with big pockets, but what takes Byron Sharp’s well-known marketing theory on further, is how they’re approaching influencers as part of the media strategy (which realistically, is get in front of more people!). Guinness is using influencers as a media channel in their own right - for creative production and earned reach - to position themselves amongst the new growth audience as relatable, driving consideration and forcing repeat memory structures.
The eternal challenge of attribution…
The audience growth is financially significant enough to A) notice and B) disclose. Yet Guinness still can’t say influencers drove it in more than a general directional sense. Influencers being meaningful enough to discuss in your positive trading results, but still not in a specific enough way to be able to exactly attribute. A reassuring one for the rest of us? It’s not you / us who find it hard - it’s hard even when you know it’s growing your business enough to tell markets about!
Probably because they’re both cause and effect - symptom and cure - and so understanding which influencer advocacy occurs because you created it, vs what your customers created for you is tough.
So, we keep on fighting the good attribution fight together!
PS. For what it’s worth, the Guinness at The Devonshire does live up to the hype (if you can bother battling the crowds) and The George gives it a pretty good go too - let me know if you want to join me for one…
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