Murphy's Irish Stout: One brand's weakness, another brand's strength

With Guinness holding 80% of the stout market campaign aimed to position Murphy's as an alternative. The brand had some success in 1993 but there were distribution problems and there was a danger of the brand being delisted. TRB research showed an opportunity as Guinness was seen to have lost the 'Irishness' of its core values. Using TV and fill-in press significant volume increases were achieved in both off and on-trade. A 97% sales increase achieved by advertising over the advertised period, for off-trade. Similar effects seen on-trade with campaign accounting for 51% lift in volume sales. Paper discusses how campaign worked against Guinness advertising. Estimate of advertising payback included