Guinness depicts African renaissance in ‘Made of black’ Campaign

Made of black’ is the kind of phrase, in time past resonated discrimination. On the face value, certain individuals have felt insulted, abused for being black or referred to as being black. But, with Guinness new campaign, black is been redefined and put into perspectives. Made of black from Guinness is a campaign that illustrates concepts that may not be easily digestible by people with different understanding of the concept of black.

Although, the Guinness Made of black campaign  has received mixed reactions, the multinational company is dogged and convinced in its message that black is not a colour. “Black is a mindset, black creates and black is an attitude” the campaign stated.

In the campaign, launched across markets in Africa as a continuation of Guinness well-thought out proposition to consumers, the company is sending out the message which reflects the movement that Guinness is seeing amongst a new generation of adult consumers across Africa, who together, are fuelling a progressive new spirit of Africa. The characters in Made of Black TV commercial depict talents and strengths of real people with boldness and confidence that are being made of black that are adding impetus and promoting the new African spirit.

The campaign, which launched via a four hour takeover of MTV Base was conceived by Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO in London together with BBDO offices in Africa. The TV commercial, directed by Sam Brown through Rogue Films, featured African performers, artists and creatives expressing what Guinness calls “their own #madeofblack story” — set to Kanye West’s throbbing “Blkkk Skkkn Head” track.

Guinness is reputed for turning out creative TVC that transcends its market and connect with its audience. Few of such legendary TV commercials include: “My friend Udeme…is a great man” and “The Ticket” both of which got accolades for being expressive.

The new #made of black TVC started with imagery of white and black bottles. Before explaining that black is not a colour but a mindset, the campaign depicted African green economy.  The advert showed the emergence of African economy dominated by black as a black person suddenly emerges from a white pool in the campaign.

This was further illustrated when a white liquid is spilling off the black bowl which could not contain the white liquid anymore.

The characters in Made of Black TV commercial have immense confidence – they are not afraid to express themselves and are carving their own path with a real boldness and imagination.

The advert also depicted black which has been in solitary suddenly expressing himself. “Black dances to different beat and black believes”, the campaign says.

The campaign which showed different black people singing and dancing to tunes ended with black emerging prominently and Guinness bottle displaying its colour – made of black. “Black writes its own rules”.

“Guinness also embodies this mind set – for over 250 years it has always had the authenticity, boldness and vision to do things differently”, Global Guinness Brand Director, Mark Sandys who is based in UK told BusinessDay through email response to questions on the latest campaign.

According to Mark Sandys, the new campaign by the multinational company which recently invested £230million in expanding brewing and warehousing capacity and creating  distribution facilities at its breweries in Benin and Lagos, embodies the creative and entrepreneurial spirit that is found within Nigerian consumers, but it also reflects what consumers want and expect from a brand.

Explaining that black is not necessary colour but mind-set and an attitude, Mark further explained to BusinessDay that ‘Black’ is central to the Guinness iconography and this campaign  embodies those who aren’t afraid to express themselves, have the confidence to carve their own path, do things differently and live life to the full.

“Those who are Made of Black are the creative ones, the entrepreneurs, the dancers, the singers, the artists, the dreamers, the doers; people united by their shared creativity and imagination”, Mark enthused.

On  possible confusion between Made of Black and Made of More campaigns, Mark clarified that the latest campaign  is part of the highly successful global Guinness Made of More campaign which has been running for over two years now. The campaign, he said has been incredibly well-received so far and the different executions that come under the Made of More banner – such as Made of Black – are created to reflect and amplify the different cultures of the markets in which they are aired.

Asked whether the concept of Madeofblack is a shift from the resonating Guinness’ message of ‘power’ which Foreign Extra Stout represents , Mark said boldness, confidence and vision have been central to the Guinness brand for over 250 years and “this thread has run through all of our campaigns with great effect and Made of Black will continue this legacy. With each new campaign we seek to reflect how these values manifest with our consumers – previously this was through expressing power and strength, but we have seen this morph into the desire for unique self-expression and the wish of progress in life whilst making a statement”.

He said Nigeria continues to represent an exciting opportunity for Diageo and for Guinness. The first Guinness brewery outside of the British Isles was established in Lagos in 1961.

Unveiling the campaign in Lagos, the Managing Director and Chief Executive, Guinness Nigeria Plc,  Seni Adetu  described it as a dawn of a new era, the rise of new age of Nigerians, for individuals who are not afraid to express themselves with increased confidence to carve their own paths. He said Guinness is proud to support this drive and provide a platform that celebrates this aspiring and vibrant generation in their quest to do things differently and live their life responsibly to fullest.

The Made of black campaign, according to Seni reflects the recognition by brand Guinness of a movement of African consumers who by their attitude have the boldness that cannot be contained, carve their path and live life to the full.

Seni said the Madeofblack campaign has many exciting aspects. At the heart of the campaign is defining what black as a colour is, it is an attitude that inspires everyone and charge them to greater heights. He said the attitude however is not exclusive to any race, country of birth, colour or skin. “Black is not about colour but about attitude. The new #made of black campaign by Guinness will ignite the Nigerian spirit, encouraging everyone to show positively show what they are made of and what makes them unique” Adetu said.

Daniel Obi