Guinness is taking a measured approach to creator marketing

Guinness is resisting the push to recruit creators at scale, instead favoring selective partnerships and community participation that fit the brand’s existing culture. Paddy Carberry, global marketing manager and head of sport, said the brand intends to build its creator activity organically and at its own pace.

Carberry discussed the approach during a live recording of the Unofficial Partner sports business podcast, produced in partnership with agency Sid Lee. He argued that brands risk looking inauthentic when they rush to adopt social trends. For Guinness, a large roster of paid creators could undermine the credibility it has built with drinkers and the people who serve its beer.

That caution reflects the brand’s close ties to pubs. Carberry pointed to the pandemic as a turning point: while pubs were closed and suppliers faced unpaid bills, Guinness extended credit to its customers and sent unsold beer to be used as fertilizer for Christmas trees. He said pub landlords and bar staff noticed those actions. In his view, the person pouring a pint has substantial influence over what customers order.

Guinness’s marketing also helped make the return to pubs feel significant. Its advertising emphasized the wait for pubs to reopen, when the brand was among the drinks people had missed. That history helps explain why the company is wary of pursuing online attention at the expense of relationships formed in real-world settings.

Participation before paid reach

Creators have nevertheless contributed to Guinness’s cultural presence, often without a formal brand deal. London accounts rating pub pours made the quality of a pint an online talking point, while Kim Kardashian and Olivia Rodrigo brought attention to the brand without a Diageo brief. The “Splitting the G” drinking ritual had circulated in pubs since at least 2018, when it received an Urban Dictionary entry.

The brand has sometimes helped existing behavior travel further. Carberry said Guinness’s social team spent 2014 amplifying rituals drinkers had already created, alongside a curated set of influencer partnerships. The important judgment, he suggested, is deciding which moments to support and which to leave alone. Guinness does work with creators, but, as Carberry put it, probably less than people might expect.

One example of the brand responding to audience behavior is “Singing Pints.” Launched in 2023 and revived over the summer, the campaign drew on the #SingingGuinness TikTok trend. Participants made faces in the creamy foam on their pints and blew across it to make the foam appear to move. Guinness adapted the consumer-created idea into a television spot. Carberry described it as one of the brand’s most successful pieces of content in the past decade.

The case illustrates a different role for creator marketing: listening to community behavior and finding an appropriate way to amplify it, rather than treating creators primarily as a source of paid reach. Jon Williams, founder and chief creative officer at Freedom Works, said ordinary drinkers taking part in “Splitting the G” are creating something to share with friends in a pub. He argued that giving people a real-life activity they want to do can also give them something worth sharing online.

Alcohol rules add constraints

Guinness also operates under restrictions that make creator and social campaigns more complicated. In the U.K., people shown drinking in alcohol advertising must be, and appear to be, over 25. Alcohol advertisers also cannot place ads where more than a quarter of the audience is under 18, a requirement that can be difficult to assure on TikTok.

The source briefing cited the Advertising Standards Authority’s ban on Au Vodka ads the previous year as an example of enforcement related to these rules. Carberry also noted that alcohol advertising regulations are becoming stricter in markets around the world.

Those limits reinforce the logic of Guinness’s gradual approach. The brand can participate in creator culture, but it must consider both whether an idea feels right for its community and whether it can be executed within applicable rules. Rather than signing up creators en masse, its strategy centers on selective collaboration, community management and amplifying consumer-led moments when they suit the brand.