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FEBRUARY 5, 2007 VOL. 20. NO 17 |
Guinness Plc:
Promoting Deceit
By Innocent Chukwu When multi-national liquor giant, Guinness Nigeria Plc; on December 1, 2006 set out to promote and reposition one of its brands, Guinness Extra Stout, using the promotional slogan, “Guinness Party On,” most of the brand's loyalists were not taken by surprise as they looked forward to winning many exotic instant and differed prizes. In fact, apart from the weekly draws which put smiles on the faces of consumers of Guinness extra stout (large and small bottles), there were lots of other instant prizes to induce customers – infact, much more than they had done prior to the commencement of the promotion. These include “innumerable” bottles of free drinks, T-shirts, handsets, MP3 players and more. Expectedly, and given the reputation Guinness as a company has for living up to its promises in previous promos, the consumption of Guinness extra stout increased in such a way that in most of the strategically located beer parlours, the brand has quickly become the darling of beer consumers. Indeed, this sudden twist, many consumers confessed to The Source, was not without the gusto that engulfed most consumers which was occasioned by the prompt redemption of the instant prices at various redemption centres located in many parts of Lagos. The Source learnt that about two weeks into the promo, winners of the instant prizes had no qualms whether or not they could collect whatever prize was indicated on their crown corks. Yet ,little did they realise, based on reports available to The Source, that the joy of consuming their choice brands in extra bottles, may not last till February 28, 2007, the terminal date for the Guinness promo. Details of investigations carried out by The Source to confirm series of complaints by some consumers of the Guinness brand, indicate that by the second week of January 2007, the redemption outlets of the Party-on promo had begun to run out-of-stock of the instant prizes, especially in the strategic areas of the Lagos metropolis. According to investigations carried out at random, it was observed that many instant winners have begun to feel short-changed as they were given indefinite dates on which to collect whatever prize they won. For instance, in some of the areas visited, both consumers and Guinness officials confessed that the instant prizes are under- supplied. For example, for free drinks, it was discovered that those who have like say 10 crown corks of the small bottle of Guinness extra stout could receive about five or six bottles of free drink and told to check on a later date for the completion of their prices. Yet, many of them confessed, they have had to abandon those free drinks because like one said, “I cannot continue wasting my time at the redemption centers because of two or three bottles of free drinks when I have better things to do.” According to a source who claimed he won 10 bottles of free drinks, while only six was given to him, he was still hoping to collect the remaining four any time the redemption center in his neighbourhood is replenished. When The Source visited Base 3, a drinking joint along Ajayi Road in Ogba, Lagos, the owner of the beer palour, madam Christine Agu, revealed that, indeed, there has been a sharp increase in the demand for Guinness products in anticipation of winning the juicy prizes the company promised. “Whenever they win instant prizes, they give it to me to help take it to redemption centers from where I buy my stock of drinks, but I am always told that there are no gifts to be given. Also, one hardly comes by the correct letters on the crown corks. It is always so discouraging. Even when I take crown corks with free drinks to the redemption center located at Shonola Street, opposite Excellence Hotel, Ogba the lady would say that she doesn’t have free drinks to give out because the company has not given her free drinks to give out,” Agu said. Aside being under-supplied, one other albatross of the free drink promise is that consumers allege that some beer parlours are selling the bottles specifically inscribed “free drinks -not to be sold.” Many contend that selling the free bottles may be regarded as a deceitful game since it is specified that they must not be sold. But according to a consumer who pleaded anonymity, “it is annoying that while winners waste their precious time and energy visiting redemption centers without positive outcome, Guinness Plc wittingly or unwittingly closes its eyes to this kind of deception.” He identified areas such as Apapa, Ajegunle, Ikeja and Oshodi as some of the places where bottles of free drinks are sold to unsuspecting customers. According to him, the large bottle popularly called ‘Big Stout’ is not found at the redemption centers. “You could be lucky to get a few bottles of small stout if you win, but you can hardly get the big one. They are only making promises but the promo will end next month,” he protested to The Source. The alleged deception is not limited to free drinks alone. For example, at one of the strategic beer parlours in the high brow area of Ikeja, The Source had a chat with an official of Guinness Plc, who craved anonymity and confessed sincerely that joints in strategic places quickly run out of supply of the instant prices. According to him (Guinness representative), the reason is because most winners migrate to the strategic redemption centers to collect their prices, probably because of where their offices are located. He said the remote areas do have more of the prizes because only a few people go to those places to redeem their prices. But checks at such places as Ajepunle, Ikotun, Egbe, Sango-Otta, etc indicate otherwise. Regardless, the Guinness official further told The Source that it is not because Guinness Plc does not supply the centers with the various prizes, even in large quantities, but the problem, according to him, is that an average of about 45 persons do visit the strategically located centers for their prizes, “so, there is no way we cannot run out of stock.” The Guinness Plc officer also confirmed that it is more difficult to collect prizes like handsets, MP3 players and large stout, than it is with bottles of free drinks such as small stout and T-shirts. Asked if such reports do not get to the company that most people are not collecting items which they win, he said that the company is being communicated and it is doing something to redeem its image in this regard. As these complaints keep pouring in on daily basis, The Source called at the office of the brand manager of Guinness extra-stout, Kolawole Ayeni, to know what has really gone amiss, whereupon he denied knowledge of winners being denied their prizes. Ayeni: “I have not got any reports that winners are denied their gifts.” The brand manager, however, said that for The Source to get detailed information on the current promotions (Guinness extra stout), it would have to visit or call Guinness Nigeria Plc media consultants, Richardson and Briggs, who he said would clarify the issues raised. Efforts by The Source to talk to the firm, via telephone, failed as at the time of filing in this report. As the Guinness Party – on promo sets to wind-up on February 28, 2007, the questions many of the brand loyaltists keep asking are, whether or not the multi-national firm truly knows what would be the effect of the promo on consumption before it embarked on it, whether or not the firm knows it has to monitor the concentration of people in towns and other areas where their redemption centers are located; or could it be that crown corks with the “free drink” inscription were produced far more than the bottles of free drinks and others enumerated. Whatever the answers to these questions are, Guinness Nigeria Plc has enough time to proffer solutions before they lose their loyal customers to competition. With additional reports by Osamudiamen Ogbonmwan. |
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