The Campaign

IDEA: THE KANJI THAT IS MADE OF MORE. The inspiration came from the art of ‘Shodo’. Writing in Japan originally used a series of pictograms, telling stories with pictures - a tradition of ’Japanese Calligraphy’ dating back 2000 years. Could we then use this already established typography in another way? We worked with a Shodo master and some carefully chosen words. He created bold phrases through rhythmic brush strokes on washi paper to express the values of Guinness. The ‘Shodo’ art allowed us to effortlessly use the typography to reveal the iconic symbol of the white head and black body of the Guinness pint - in the Kanji itself. The carefully chosen words like “precious” “excellence” “thoughtful” “superb” “truth” showed that the centuries old typography had in fact been hiding the iconic shape all along as our careful brush strokes cleverly revealed.

Creative Execution

With a 2000-year-old pictorial writing tradition we ‘revealed’ through the typography the iconic white creamy head and black body of a Guinness had always been there at the heart of the local language. THE KANJI THAT IS MADE OF MORE is intended to work on many media platform, be it big or small. It was posted on social media on a regular basis, and in-bar Posters. Imprinting on people’s minds that Guinness should play a part in anyone’s daily consumption.

Indication of how successful the outcome was in the market

The typography in the end exuded the quality values of the white creamy head and dense black body of a Guinness pint in a way that had not been expressed before in Japan. Our typographical idea was built into the heart of the Japanese language in a culturally relevant and clever everyday way. At this point direct results are hard to ascertain as the material has only just started to be used.

The typographical idea dovetailed perfectly into the Guinness global brand values and strategy of ‘MADE OF MORE’. The people who drink Guinness follow their own path, a Guinness drinker warrants a second look, as they have more substance and depth. Why shouldn’t the typography be made of more? We designed posters using the purest Japanese Kanji Language. The phrases we chose captured the brand values of Guinness and its drinkers; words like “precious” “superb” “excellence” and “wisdom”. But when you also looked ‘more closely’ you could also clearly see that the iconic ‘White head and Black body’ had been captured in the typography. Demonstrating that the kanji characters we had chosen were also ‘Made of More’.