Guinness warns fans to think it, but don't jinx it

Guinness leveraged the 2023 Rugby World Cup in Ireland Rugby by asking fans keep their confident predictions to themselves so as not to jinx the Irish team during the French hosted tournament.

While Ireland go into the tournament as the world’s number one ranked team, the work is based on the insight that many committed sports fans believe that it is bad luck to say out loud that your team is going to win. This is particularly hard felt in Ireland rugby circles following a woeful, stinging defeat to New Zealand at the 2019 Rugby World Cup quarter finals in Japan – despite the side having high hopes.

So the Guinness campaign seeks to build support for the Irish Rugby Football Union men’s national team by urging fans not to make out loud confident claims or boasts and runs with the endline “Think It, But Just Don’t Jinx It’.

Led by a spearhead TV and online spot, the campaign, developed by the Diageo brand marketers and agency AMV BBDO and helmed by Biscuit Filmworks Director James Rouse, rolled out in the first week of the tournament as Ireland opened the competition with an 82-8 demolition of Romania. 

Set to Ronan Keating's ‘When You Say Nothing At All’, the commercial adopts a comic-documentary style featuring fans admitting to their previous overconfidence and saying that this time they are delighted just to be participating.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VqEjOn_Y-4

"Heading into another enormous tournament with their team ranked #1 and previous years heartbreaks fresh in their minds, this insight has never been truer for Ireland fans," outlined AMV BBDO Creatives Will Brookwell and Louis Prenaud. "So, our campaign aims to get ahead of the loose lips and remind everyone to support safely, and to never say that one forbidden thing."

Comment

Guinness has a long association with the game and is a long-time rugby sponsor and is one of the main Ireland Rugby official partners along with Aer Lingus, Aon, stadium sponsor Aviva, Ballygowan, Bank Of Ireland, Canterbury, DHL, Dove Men+Care, Energia, Opel, PWC  and front of shirt sponsor Vodafone.

Previous notable recent Guinness rugby marketing includes 2022’s ‘Let’s Settle This’ and ‘Match Pint’, as well as its 2021 Six Nations ‘Hope Rises’ campaign, 2020’s ‘Love Letter’ and Japan 2019’s ‘Made Of More’. 

This case study originally appeared on Activative: which offers clients creative and strategic intelligence to fuel game-changing sports and sponsorship marketing. www.activative.co.uk