The Problem -

In the US, where the majority of beer is sold during the warmer months, the brand simply wasn't part of people's mental picture of the season. Decades of communications had made Guinness synonymous with pubs, winter and dark evenings.

The Brief -

Given this was fundamentally about changing behavior, I kept coming back to one of the textbook behavioral science principles : it's far easier to change behavior by making the desired action feel normal than by asking people to adopt something new.

So we should stop telling people Guinness belongs in summer.
We should make it feel like it always has.

Rather than asking people to adopt a new behavior, this was about reframing the pint in a way that makes drinking Guinness in the sun feel natural, familiar and emotionally right.

Showing Guinness in the sand or producing Guinness branded board shorts isn’t going to cut it. We needed to show the pint we all know and love in a different light.

The Creative Solution -

On an unusually warm May evening in London, one of the studio's creatives noticed the light catching a half-finished pint, casting the Harp's shadow onto the golden head.

It was a beautiful image that leveraged Guinness' distinctive assets while instinctively making you want to drink one in the sun. Without a word being said.

A pure design and body-language idea.

This being proactive and with a limited media budget, outdoor became the obvious home for this idea. We selected placements where the real sun would recreate the Harp shadow throughout the day. 

We optimized for feeling rather than message, leaving just enough space for people to connect the dots themselves - which is often what makes for more engaging and memorable OOH.

A clear issue, some behavioral science, a reframe, a serendipitous idea from the pub, distinctive brand assets, emotion, context, a repeatable format, turned around in roughly a month.

Love this one.
Right, now how about a Guinness ?