A new advertising campaign by Nigerian Breweries for its premium brand, Guilder, has brought to the fore how the mind of most men meanders when faced certain challenges. Comically, the TV advert, The Ultimate Beer for Men, seems to make jest of the gender, but it raises fundamental questions and provides answers, ADEDEJI ADEMIGBUJI writes.
Storytelling” is a new trend that is sweeping through the entire brands building community like a whirlwind. Born out of the need to depart from the old creative approach of brand owners’ desperate push in selling a brand, more and more creative experts are now buried in the idea of “small stories that can be very powerful communication tools” that can help brands connect with target markets better.
Locally and globally, the wave of brand story, telling creative approach in advertising is unprecedented. Brand builders look out for social issues, explore the plot, the setting and eventually grab a leeway of selling their brands to unsuspecting consumers. For instance, when FirstBank of Nigeria bankrolled a soap opera, B4 30, the aim of the brand was to help young women-single and married- below 30 years of age share their stories on challenges of singlehood and marital life.
Worried that such social issue is a story everyone under this age group shies away from discussing in public as a result of social stigma attached to that age bracket, the bank decided to sponsor the series to raise awareness on this social issue and indirectly position the 120 year old iconic brand as a bank that cares.
It will also be recalled that the Marketing Director at Hyundai UK. Mr. Andrew Cullis, at a point in the lifecycle of its brand, decided to tell a serious storytelling about Hyundai and hunted for an agency to deliver this new creative direction, but could find none until he hired Red Bee, formerly the BBC’s in-house agency, which has a heritage steeped in broadcast media.
The brand explore a campaign theme “Feel like a man”, to convey the product specifications of Hyundai’s Sante Fe car model in a comedic way. Hyundai’s approach also demonstrates that brand storytellers must take account of the art and science of human life but as a marketer, the brand handlers ultimately want emotional engagement to translate into profit.
In a recent case, Nigerian Breweries is towing same storytelling creative strategy to position Guilder as a beer for men. The brewer released a 45 seconds TV commercial ‘The Ultimate Beer for Men’ exploring courage as a theme. Presenting three different stories, the Guilder TV reveals most-dreaded fear of men: fear of losing a job, receiving quit notice from landlord, being underestimated by opposite sex (lover) and confronting a would-be father in-law especially a discipline one.
In the 45 second TV commercials, a young man, Mike, is caught between sitting back and receiving no positive reviews for his stellar performance in the office. As the scene opens, zooming in on staff of his company cheering when the Managing Director of the company presents the annual sales results with 30 per cent growth without recognising Mike’s sterling contribution to the result.
Standing amidst other staff, Mike is not happy, hence, refuses to clap and smile. Perhaps with the thought of resigning, the consequence of such action stares him in the face: Quit notice from landlord, divorce letter from his wife, loss of properties. Rather than take such routes to protest lack of reward for his massive contribution to the growth, he dares the odd. Audaciously, he walks to his boss’s office, but rather than being scolded, his boss gave him a cup of Guilder, signifying recognition of his performance afterall. As he drinks the Guilder-branded cup of the Guilder beer with the foam of the beer lacing his moustache, he smiles and overcomes his worries.
Another version of the commercial, features a young man, John. While shopping for new wears in a boutique, John spots a pretty young lady walking into the shop. Unnoticed, John falls in love with the lady, but finds it difficult to walk up to her to express his feelings. From admiration to fear, fear to imagination, John, finds himself in the web of imagination.
He pictures the lady addressing him as a petrol attendant before her friends who burst into laughter, making John looking ridiculous. Coming back to his senses and undeterred, John walked audaciously towards the lady who gave him a cautious audience, with a glass of Guilder to settle in.
Finally, the brand handler also shared the story of an upwardly mobile and dashing man, Dan who is ready to marry an army general’s daughter. Sets inside a sitting room with a royal décor, an electrifying ambience and a chandelier lightening Dan’s clean shave, the picture frames of would-be father-in-law, dressed in military uniform, scares him; but he pretends as if he is unperturbed. Beaming with a forced smile at his fiancée, a certain photo frame-a hard-look of his father-in-law- hanging on the walls changed his countenance.
He became afraid as the unwelcoming facial expression of the General transits him into an imagination: The General arrives eventually and is ushered into the sitting room by two heavily-built body guards. Standing in the middle of the body guards, the General roars at him, issues a command with façade of fury, that Dan should stay off his daughter- but it is a mere imagination. As he returns to reality, the would-be father-in-law enters the sitting room without any guard and immediately welcomes Dan with a handshake while the fiancée looks on with smile.
Positioned as “The Ultimate Beer for Men” in the pay-off of the TV commercial, the advert tells a story of courage and men in their daily encounters in a bid to position Guilder at a beer for men of guts. Like in the psychology of minds played out by Guilder’s “The Ultimate Beer for Men” TV Commercial, portray men as being prone to certain fears, such as security in workplace, chasing girls, or approaching would-be life-partners and meeting father-in-laws.
This scenarios confine them into various imagination that could dampen their aspiration if not well handled, but the Guilder brand is positioned as a beer that helps men remain the men in the face of potent fear, hence, making the brand meet the needs of the target audience: Men. “This means that for the brand, there is “MAN” in every man and it only needs discovering for such to lead to accomplishments and conquests of fears, career and even the opposite sex (love). And Guilder inspires this,” said a creative expert who viewed the TV commercial.
According to an expert at Smart Marketing Strategy, Jean Gian-fagna, storytelling is fundamental to every culture. He said stories work in marketing because everyone understands what a story is about. “When the story is highly relevant to the needs and interests of the audience, it’s a powerful and persuasive way to convey information,” he said.
Guilder has always explored story-telling to encourage men to achieve great exploits and remain strong-minded. Through one of its sponsored radio programmes called The Ultimate State of Mind (TUSOM) on various radio stations across the country, the brand owners explores this to draw the attention of men to the challenges of survival and the can-do spirit that enables men to conquer. While the brand launch of the Ultimate Search, Nigeria’s first reality show is also meant to inspire courage among men and later extends the same message to women when it started featuring women in the show, reviewers are not surprised by the new creative trajectory of the Guilder brand. Last year the brand handler launched new bottle. As a result of the features of the new bottle which comes with a masculine shoulder, some industry observers said the brand is offering strength and character to his consumers.
The Managing Director, Nigerian Breweries Plc., Mr. Nicolaas Vervelde, said the Guilder re-launch was in tandem with the company’s penchant for innovation, which has sustained its leadership in the brewery sector.
He said: “In 1946, the story of innovation started with Nigerian Breweries Plc. We launched the Guilder brand in 1970 in a unique brown bottle with a unique logo and unique recipe. This unique beer is loved by millions of Nigerians who savour the taste every day, every week, every month and every year. Gulder was the first beer to be launched in cans, which is a further sign of its innovativeness.”
Vervelde described Guilder’s new bottle launch as revolutionary. He further said: “It is a historic moment for the Guilder brand. The new bottle which was contained in the Cube reflects that this celebrated brand, Guilder, is at the forefront of advancement and I can assure that what you are going to see is the result of several years of hard work and skill that the brewery industry has seen in a long while.”
The Marketing Director, Messrs Walter Drenth, described the bottle as the most innovative in Nigeria. He said: “What we have done is to take Guilder from a 1970 bottle and transformed it to a 2020 bottle. I can tell you that this is the most innovative bottle in the Nigerian beer market today. Let me also assure that despite the efforts and resources committed to giving our esteemed consumers of Guilder this classy bottle, the price and the taste remain the same.”
According market survey, Guilder is the second highest selling beer in the country. It spent about N0.7 billion on above-the-line advert last year trailing behind Guinness Extra Stout’s N1.6 billion and Star Larger beer’s N1.5 billion in the same media category.
