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Reclaiming Guinness’ stand-out status on the bar
Diageo
Challenge
As tastes change and new competitors emerge, how can heritage brands stay in demand?
When Guinness Draught’s popularity dropped, the brand wanted to boost appeal to customers and bars alike by creating a wow moment with a new, iconic tap unit. Mindlab was tasked with testing out four potential designs known as “founts”. The idea was that the right one would stand out at the point of sale, be recognisable as Guinness, be easy to find for customers and strengthen positive associations with the brand.
Research
We used our proprietary digital implicit platform to understand consumer perceptions of the fount designs. 1,000 UK participants aged 20-50 took part in the study, evenly divided between regular and occasional Guinness drinkers to help understand how brand loyalty influenced perceptions. All assessments were conducted under time constraints to capture instinctive implicit responses, aka System 1 data.
Stage 1. Provide insights to refine the design
The research sample was divided into four groups, each focusing on a different design. Implicit responses to visual prominence, brand recognition, preference, and positive associations were all measured.
It became clear that one design stood out as particularly resonant, garnering very positive reactions, with consumers perceiving Guinness as appealing, distinctive, proud, high quality, and well-crafted. It possessed a strong implicit appeal and was distinctly recognisable as “Guinness”. Explicit feedback also praised its iconic appearance reminiscent of the famous Guinness harp. However, it was noted that this design lacked visual salience, making it difficult to spot in a crowded bar.
Stage 2. Perfect and select the final design
Our findings prompted the exploration of new designs that maintained the positive attributes while addressing the visibility issue. We validated these improvements using the same metrics as in Stage 1.
1st design option
Safe, similar to current design
2nd design option
Safe, classic bar tap design
3rd design option
Pushing the boat out, inspired by the harp
Findings
The most daring design emerged as the favourite: the Hero Harp. This design showed significant improvements in scores, especially among occasional Guinness drinkers, suggesting its potential to attract this demographic more regularly and contribute to brand growth.
Results
The Hero Harp was an instant hit in UK and Irish bars and pubs, with tap orders nearly doubling targets. The design convinced 5,000 bars to install the new standalone fount instead of putting Guinness on a shared T-bar. It also became an international hit, with global orders nearly reaching 50,000.
The design receiving Gold and the coveted Grand Prix Award at the DBA Design Effectiveness Awards.
