Black market: New Guinness campaign targets African youth

Africa – In its new Made of Black campaign Guinness is targeting the African youth market.

The centrepiece of the campaign is a slick two-minute advertisement set to Kanye West’s song Black Skinhead. A flashing collage of images is interspersed with headlines such as ‘Black is not a colour’, ‘Black creates’ and ‘Black got swag’. 

The ad, which was launched on 27 August 2014 on MTV Base as part of a five-hour Guinness takeover of the channel, features African performers and artists expressing what Guinness calls ‘their own #madeofblack story and attitude’.

The campaign, which attempts to tie the Guinness identity as a black beer to certain aspects of black music and culture, will continue with a social media selfie programme that invites celebrities and influencers to share their own Made of Black stories. The campaign is fronted by Fuse ODG, a British musician of Ghanaian descent.

Guinness’ locally driven marketing campaigns have helped make it Africa’s favourite beer. The Diageo-owned brand is responsible for nearly half of the beer sold on the continent, according to Quartz.

For more on the economic growth-presenting opportunities for African entrepreneurs, read our Insight Behaviour piece.