'Malaysia is the largest Guinness market in Asia' indicated by Denis Brown in Sun2Surf

Courtesy of ROSLAN SMS's article in HarakahDaily.net, I was turned to this news at Sun2Surf. It is indeed revealing, for a country touted to be an Islamic country, or so said it's former Prime Minister, Tun Mahathir Muhammad.


So, are we really a nation of Guinness drinkers?

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Satu lagi pencapaian bumi Islam Hadhari

Date: Tuesday, September 20 @ 13:27:36 MYT
Topic: Main News

Oleh ROSLAN SMS

Akhbar THE SUN edisi hujung minggunya di ruangan Media & Marketing telah menyiarkan satu lagi pencapaian negara yang seharusnya dibanggakan oleh mereka yang bertanggungjawab, siapa sahaja mereka yang dimaksudkan.

Dipaparkan wajah gadis-gadis muda negara (saya tak pasti kalau ada gadis Melayu yang terlibat) dalam pakaian separuh telanjang semuanya berwarna hitam berkerumun disekitar taukeh dan teraju industri ini.

Upacara maksiat ini diadakan dimana lagi jika tidak di pusat maksiat negara iaitu di Zouk Kuala Lumpur, nama yang tidak asing lagi di Kuala Lumpur dimana kuasa penguatkuasaan agama pernah dicabar dan diperlekehkan satu ketika dahulu.

Link ke laporan The Sun

Menurut Pegurus Besar Pemasaran Guiness Anchor, Malaysia adalah pasaran terbesar Guiness (jenama arak jenis stout) diperingkat Asia! Dan kerana itu Malaysia dijadikan pusat untuk melancarkan identiti terbaru jenama Guiness iaitu Guiness Foreign Extra Stout.

Syabas Darul Islam Malaysia!

Menurut syarikat arak ini lagi sasaran mereka untuk jenama baru ini adalah dikalangan anak-anak muda sekitar usia 25 ke 35 tahun. Mereka dijangka berbelanja sekitar RM13 juta untuk tujuan promosi semata-mata. Menurut syarikat itu lagi:

We are proud to say that Malaysia was the first market to test it out and succeeded. The next step was to create an occasion such as the Black Party to gather the younger people to enjoy and sample Guiness.

(Kami berbangga mengisytiharkan bahawa Malaysia adalah pasaran pertama yang kita gunakan untuk menguji jenama ini dan kami berjaya. Langkah seterusnya adalah untuk menganjurkan majlis-majlis hiburan Parti Hitam untuk mengumpulkan anak-anak muda bagi mencuba Guiness.)

Demikianlah realiti yang kita hadapi pada hari ini. Siapakah dapat memastikan anak-anak muda, remaja kita tidak akan turut terjebak dalam majlis-majlis maksiat yang dirancangkan ini?

Yang terbaru Jabatan agama pun mengeluh kerana kononnya tidak cukup tenaga untuk melakukan pengutakuasaan, kalau cukup pun stigma di Zouk dahulu masih belum dapat dikikis lagi.

Ini masalah serius. Dan ianya perlu ditangani dengan mendekati golongan remaja kita dan membuka channel ataupun saluran dimana kita boleh berbicara, menyampaikan mesej dan terus menyelamatkan kita. Atau apakah cadangan kita?

SILA KE ROSLAN SMS CORNER
http://n32.blogspot.com/

This article comes from Harakahdaily
The URL for this story is:http://harakahdaily.net/article.php?sid=15961


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--- Article Information ---
This article was printed from Welcome to Sun2Surf
Article's URL: http://www.sun2surf.com/article.cfm?id=11166
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Black theme draws the young

By: Sharmini Angela (Fri, 16 Sep 2005)

BLACK was the dress code at the recent launch of the new brand identity of Guinness Foreign Extra Stout (FES) at Zouk, Kuala Lumpur, as it has been at the annual Black Party organised by Guinness Anchor Marketing Sdn Bhd.

Black, the colour of elegance and style, has been the theme used to market Guinness for some time.

Malaysia is the first Guinness market in the world to roll out its new brand identity, which enhances the brand's look and feel.

This timeless classic from 1759 has gone through an evolution to make a connection with younger drinkers.

"Malaysia is the largest Guinness market in Asia and a centre of excellence when we roll out plans regionally. As one of the major markets out of the 151 where Guinness is sold, we feel a great sense of pride," Guinness Anchor Marketing general manager Denis Brown said at the launch.

The brand identity or style guide is a common marketing strategy used to maintain the consistency of a brand, in all advertisements and events.

"When something is consistent all the time, ultimately it enables consumers to relate it to Guinness (by) just looking at its contributing elements like colours and tagline," said Guinness marketing manager James Wong of Guinness Anchor Marketing.

"Before any positive changes took place, people always perceived Guinness as a healthy, old man's drink," said Wong.

The company has been trying to change that perception for over 10 years before finally succeeding with the launch of the new bottle design and the Black Party in 2003.

Guinness wants to target younger consumers aged 25 to 35 without neglecting those aged 35 and above. To do so, the company needs to evolve with growing trends.

The Guinness bottle, used for the past 50 years, needed a new look and it took almost a year of R&D to finally come up with the "perfect bottle design".

"We are proud to say that Malaysia was the first market to test it out and succeeded," said Wong.

"The next step was to create an occasion such as the Black Party, to gather the younger people to enjoy and sample Guinness."

These steps positioned Guinness as a drink for a person to stand out and have that confidence and acceptance from your peer.

Latest research shows that Guinness has created a new niche segment - the young generation who are bold, modern, contemporary, in control and different from the rest.

The print advertisements show stylish, contemporary depiction of the product; all meticulously designed and photographed to capture the brand's core essence of Power, Goodness and Communion.

It also connects with the younger consumers by having creative and stylish execution across all communication channels, whether they are in a bar enjoying Guinness with their friends or consuming it at home.

Guinness is very robust, has distinctive taste but it can cause a very strong taste barrier for those who cannot stand the taste.

To overcome this, the company came out with a brilliant idea of creating concoctions acceptable by all.

"You can't force a person to drink Guinness if they don't like the taste. Research has shown one can start off with concoctions but sooner or later, you would acquire the taste of pure Guinness," said Wong.

Guinness has allocated RM13 million for its advertising and promotion for the entire year, which includes print advertisements, posters, events and others.

Guinness is also getting into Consumer Relationship Marketing (CRM).

"We realise the young adult might not respond to the conventional advertisement but with CRM, we are able to customise communication methods to reach its targeted consumers," said Wong.

He said the company is not competing with other brands in the market.

"Consumers like to have different drinks on different occasions. We want the young adults to include Guinness as one of their choices. You can start off with a beer and eventually opt for Guinness for something stronger," Wong added.

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