Does Slow and Steady Always Win the *Brand* Race?

Hello, creative souls!

This week’s banger viral ad is an old classic with insane rewatch value. But before that, let’s go over the prologue— understanding Guinness’ culture. There’s a ritualistic “two-part pour” that connoisseurs and aficionados stand by. Ask a Guinness fan, they’ll tell you it’s the only way to drink Guinness.

It involves the meticulous process of filling a Guinness tulip glass, pausing it at 90% of the glass to allow the beer to settle before completing the pour. This technique, known as "the wait," is believed to enhance the beer's signature creamy head and distinct character (yes, that is also a marketing ploy, but more on that in another edition).

Guinness is a personal favorite, and that’s just when it comes to their marketing. As for the beer? That deserves a separate book - not a newsletter.

Here is the Gist of the Ad: VISUALLY SHOWING DELAYED GRATIFICATION WHICH IS IN LINE WITH THEIR CAMPAIGN OF ‘WAITING’.

• The advertisement sets the milieu of a quirky town (Havana, Cuba), but there's an air of anticipation of something about to happen. The whimsical music kicks in and the tone shifts.

• Cut to chaotic scenes of betting and a make shift track being constructed. Peaking the audience’s interest even more.

• The villagers gather eagerly, awaiting the race. The audience (us) also equally figure what this underground/illegal activity could be. The announcer steps in. Speaking into the megaphone in a foreign language. Building more intrigue.

• As the crowd settles, we see the start line and numbered black snails are lowered into the starting line. (what?)

• As the starting pistol goes off, there is great intensity in the “wait” of what is about to happen next. We as the audience expect a slow pace crawl with a boring ending.

• But, everyone’s surprise, the snails shoot across the race track like remote control cars. The crowd follows it throughout the maze of the track.

• The track goes around their quirky town and eventually to public squares. As the race concludes and a winner is declared, all the ‘bet winners’ also celebrate by drinking Guinness Beer.

• Ends with a snail slowly crawling towards the final last sip inside of a Guinness pint glass.

"Waiting" isn't just a tenet of the brand; it's the heartbeat of all their campaigns. And in the late '90s, Guinness took this concept to new heights with the launch of their iconic slogan: "Good things come to those who wait." This mantra became the foundation of the "Snail Race" campaign, which ran from 1999 to 2000. The agency AMV BBDO seized upon the idea of patience as the brand's main credo.

The concept is fairly simple - How do you communicate a message across about patience and waiting? You exaggerate— as seen in most ads. They go a step ahead and juxtapose it with the opposite of the key virtue— speed, restlessness, hustle, and so on.

Here’s how you can craft an ad like this: Say hello to the “Therefore, But…” framework - recommended by the creators of South Park, Matt Stone & Trey Parker.

Storytelling can take multiple forms, but the core of all kinds of storytelling is conflict. Every movie you’ve watched, book you’ve read, video game you’ve played— conflict drives them all. ‘Therefore, But…’ therefore, is one of the most simplest templates you can use to build conflict. Every beat of your story should have ‘therefore’ or ‘but’ in between.

For example, ‘Harry is told he’s a wizard’ therefore ‘he has to go to Hogwarts’ but ‘going there leads him towards Voldemort who is trying to kill him’.

Now, when you shift the context to telling a story for your brand, you have all the pre-requisites laid out for you because you can fit the problem your brand addresses and the solution it offers into the framework.

Summer is here, therefore the kids are out playing but the sun is too harsh and is literally draining the lifeblood(exaggeration) out of them therefore, recharge yourself with Glucon-D.

Try this in your everyday anecdote sessions or your water cooler talk. Your stories will be received better. Remember, to add Therefore and But between your story beats.

Peace.