Digital experiences continue to dominate our culture, from online shopping to dating apps to remote work and virtual education. Brands compete for a fraction of our attention through our devices only to be forgotten moments later. Oversaturation and our shortening attention spans make it challenging for brands to create meaningful, memorable experiences.
For these reasons and more, in-person, non-digital brand experiences have a chance to really stand out. Guinness saw organic virality of one of these types of experiences grow their sales in a big way in 2024. The beer brand has been around for centuries but broke records last year for sales volume across Europe and the United States, even leading to regular shortages in the UK from skyrocketing demand. While savvy marketing and strategic initiatives helped them break into new customer segments, like their Levain Bakery collaboration, the experience that customers find most memorable about the beer is the act of “splitting the G.”
“Splitting the G” exemplifies the type of experience that beer customers like best: fun, social, relatively risk-free, and requiring no additional cost. The action is simple: the beer drinker must take a big first sip of their Guinness, but the sip must be the exact volume that places the top of the beer’s foamy head in the center of the “G” on the pint glass. A layer of accidental genius of this experience is that it relies on Guinnesses being poured into their signature pint glasses. Most bars tend to stock them, but those that don’t have been left scrambling to order Guinness glasses, lest their customers become disappointed they can’t split the G in their bar.
Guinness is an Irish stout, a type of beer that typically doesn’t appeal to casual beer drinkers for its signature intense flavor and dark color. It is not always popular amongst bartenders either, as it takes significantly longer to pour a draft Guinness than other beers. For decades, Guinness was just the go-to beer for rugby players and blue collar workers across the UK. Only recently did its popularity spike amongst Americans, women, and fans of light beer.
The genesis of this tradition is debated, but it likely did not originate from Guinness’ marketing team. In fact, despite the trend’s persistence and recent popularity, Guinness has never launched a marketing campaign for “Splitting the G.” Brands can always benefit from listening, monitoring online spaces, and ethically collecting customer data to iterate on their products and experiences. But brands do themselves a disservice when they unnaturally insert themselves into customers’ realities, turning something fun and light-hearted into a gimmick. One of the primary goals of CX teams is to truly understand your customers, and in doing so understand the capacity in which they want to be reminded that they are a customer. Strategists should remember that while customers are in the midst of a high-quality customer experience, they aren’t thinking about ROI or CLV, they’re just having a good time.
There is considerable value in letting customers form their own traditions, communities, and connections, without brand interference. If Guinness were to try to create a commercialized version of “splitting the G” they’d risk the cringe factor many brands fall prey to when they pursue relatability. Rather than stoke the flames of virality directly, Guinness has focused their efforts on shoring up the supply chain to ensure that as popularity grows, there will always be a clean Guinness glass and a full Guinness keg to convert a curious bargoer into a fan.
Image by Engin Akyurt on Pexels.