CLIENT OF THE WEEK: The younger face of Guinness - Anita Andrews is trying to give the brand a broader appeal

Shooting her latest ad in Hawaii has given Guinness’s marketing

manager, Anita Andrews, itchy feet. She says her next ambition is to

market Guinness outside the UK, preferably somewhere sunny.

Energetic, down-to-earth and Irish, Andrews seems to be the perfect

candidate for the job of making the brand more accessible. Her aim in

life - to ’work hard, but make sure I enjoy myself too’ - means that she

can identify with the younger, broader audience that Guinness is trying

to attract.

The latest commercial, ’surfer’, is the second to come through Abbott

Mead Vickers BBDO, which replaced Ogilvy & Mather as the Guinness agency

last year. O&M had held the account for 12 years and had produced some

hugely successful work. But its 1996 ’black and white’ commercials,

while admired, were widely felt to have lost sight of the product.

’Those ads were very stylised - they put Guinness on a pedestal,’

Andrews says. ’People admired them, but they didn’t feel involved. The

new campaign is more product-focused. It’s about bringing the brand

closer to people.’

’Surfer’ follows AMV’s ’swim black’ spot, which broke last May and

introduced a new strapline: ’Good things come to those who wait.’ The

new commercial features a group of surfers waiting for the ultimate

wave. Like ’swim black’, it draws a parallel with the anticipation of

waiting for a pint of Guinness to settle.

The ad was shot in Hawaii and used real surfers living on the island

rather than actors, with world champion longboarder Rusty K.

successfully catching the huge wave. The film was directed by Jonathan

Glazer, who also shot ’swim black’, and is one of the most expensive in

Guinness’s history. Four more ads are planned with the same idea - that

Guinness is the ultimate experience in beer and is worth waiting

for.

Andrews took the traditional route into marketing, joining Britvic’s

sales and marketing training scheme after studying business studies at

Manchester Polytechnic. She did her time on the field sales trail before

becoming assistant brand manager for Pepsi, then moving on to become

brand manager of Tango, working on the launch of Blackcurrant Tango and

Lemon Tango.

Andrews moved to Guinness as senior brand manager on take-home products

before being promoted to marketing manager last November.

She is working on the brand at a very good time - Guinness claims its

sales are up 4 per cent in a market that, according to Nielsen, has

declined 6 per cent in the past year.

Andrews’ next challenge is still undecided: ’I’ve only been in this job

for a few months and I’m happy here for now. But I’d like to see the

world and Guinness is a good company for that. I’m open to suggestions.’