Brand owner Diageo is blaming the 9.7% decline in volume and 4.5% drop in value on the contracting beer market, which is down 4.5% in volume but up 1.3% in value (all figures from CGA to September 2012).
“Guinness’s performance reflects the on-trade landscape,” said Andrew Leat, senior category development manager at Diageo. “We are performing ahead of both total beer and total ale in managed, while the licensed, tenanted and independent (LTI) venues remain challenging due to the continued closures, many of which were community outlets where Guinness Draught would have been stocked, and also the movement of some outlets from LTI back to managed by some operators.”
The company says it is addressing the problems with a £33m campaign launched last month — the biggest single Guinness campaign to date — in a bid to boost the brand’s fortunes.
“We recognise that both brand awareness and affinity can always be driven harder.
“For this reason we recently made a significant £33m investment in the new Guinness campaign, entitled Made of More, which looks to drive the Guinness point of difference versus other brands in the beer category,” said Leat.
Despite the decline, the brand is still the number-three beer in the UK by value and boasts 74% distribution across the trade.