The First-evet Guinness Archive Awards Launched

The First Ever Guiness Archives Award Launched

Today Guinness announced the first ever Guinness Archives Award, in partnership with the Irish Film Institute. The brand is looking to Irish talent across the country to reinterpret a legacy brief from a vintage advert through the cultural lens of society in 2024.

Guinness is calling creatives, filmmakers, content creators and budding advertisers the length and breadth of Ireland to enter the inaugural Guinness Archives Award. They are looking for talent to reinterpret and reimagine their 1970’s creative brief ‘An expression of Irishness’, through the lens of 2024 with Guinness 0.0 as the hero product.

One award will be granted to individual creatives or creative groups for projects submitted during the application window in 2024 that align best with the reinterpretation of ‘An expression of Irishness’, with Guinness 0.0 the hero product, through any content medium including video, social media, out of home, display and or other innovative formats.

The winner will be chosen by a panel of judges from Guinness and The Irish Film Institute, critiqued through the lens of the original interpretation of the brief, creative delivery, Diageo marketing code guidelines, Guinness 0.0 and responsible drinking guidance. These all-form part of Diageo’s Society 2030 ambition.

The award coincides with the largest digitisation project of audio-visual collections the brand has ever undertaken. The entirety of the brand’s advertising legacy, of 548 ads spanning 40 years from 1955 to 1995, have been catalogued, digitally preserved and made available to the public for the first time.

Of the 548 ads that will be available on the Guiness Storehouse, a curated selection, reflecting key influential historical and cultural themes spanning the 40 years will be available, free-to-view worldwide, on the IFI Archive Player.

Kasandra O’Connell Head of the IFI Irish Film Archive, said: “The 40 years of content that has been digitised as part of the Guinness Adverts Project contains a variety of famous and important ads, and we are delighted to partner with Guinness on the project, and to now make a curated selection available to be enjoyed on the IFI Archive Player. Looking into our past is important as it offers real context to our present and just how far culturally, we have progressed during that time.”

Ross Keane, IFI Director/CEO said: “In partnership with Guinness, we are excited to present this culturally and historically important collection of ads, which are free-to-view worldwide on the IFI Archive Player, and to put the call out to the creative talent of Ireland and see their modern interpretation of ‘An expression of Irishness’ as part of the Guinness Archives Award 2024.”

Eibhlin Colgan, Guinness Archive Manager, said: “We are thrilled to partner with the IFI & Coimisiún na Meán to bring our archived and digitised collection of 40 years of Guinness television advertising to life for everyone to enjoy. The cultural significance of the ads, cannot be underestimated, Guinness was the most prolific advertiser on Irish television in this 40 year period (1955-1995) the advertisement collection features a wealth of talent both behind and in front of the camera, with directors including Alan Parker, Tony and Ridley Scott, music from artists Elkie Brooks, Clannad and the Chieftains, and a host of well-known faces such as Pete Postlewaite, Bill Nighy, Robert Lindsay and Jon Pertwee. In addition to their ability to evoke nostalgia this collection of commercials captures moments in cultural and social history spanning a 40-year period that offers a fascinating insight into changing representations of Irishness both at home and overseas, evolving gender roles and the ever-changing role of the pub in Irish society. The role Guinness played and continues to play in culture is pivotal, and it’s incredibly exciting to see what Irish creatives will develop in response to the inaugural Guinness Archives Award legacy brief.”

To celebrate the significance of the publication of this historic and cultural collection, the entire catalogue of over 548 ads will be available via the Guinness Storehouse website. In addition, the Guinness Storehouse will be launching a short documentary delving into the digitised ads which will be unveiled as part of the cinema room experience on the third floor commencing on February 15th 2024.

The application window for the Guinness Archives Award opens on February 19th at 9am 2024 and closes on April 5th 2024 at 5pm. More information can be found on the Guiness Storehouse.

About the digitisation of the Archived Guinness Advertisements

The digitisation and restoration of the collection, which encompasses over 600 advertisements, has been part funded by the BAI (now Coimisiún na Meán) Archiving Scheme and was deemed an important part of archiving culture in the Irish broadcasting sector, identified as a key project in contributing to the safeguarding of Irish cultural heritage.

As part of the project, the ads which chronicle years of massive cultural, gender and societal shifts in Ireland and the UK, were painstakingly digitised and restored by R3Store and include the digitisation of “Sea Lion”, Guinness’ first ever commercial that debuted on ITV’s first night on air on 22nd September 1955, in black and white.