We’ve launched Distilled 2025 - our annual Consumer Trends Report.
Shaping the future of Guinness with sport
Whilst Guinness has been the official partner of the Six Nations Rugby Championship since 2019, in 2024 the tournament helped it reach new heights. During this year's Six Nations, sales of pints of Guinness in stadiums were up 15% compared with 2022, while there was a 26% increase in pints of Guinness 0.0 sold in stadiums compared with 2023.
This year, Guinness also tapped into new areas at the Championship, kicking off its official partnership with the Guinness Women’s Six Nations and increasing the amount of Guinness 0.0 beer taps, driving awareness and consumption of the non-alcoholic choice.
This expanded partnership is a key pillar in delivering against our strategy of making Guinness more relevant to more people, on more occasions, more of the time.
New English Premier League partnership
In June, Guinness announced that from August it would be the official beer of the English Premier League. Premier League games are broadcast into 900 million homes in 189 countries, heightening the brand's relevancy and visibility even further. The four-year agreement will also see Guinness 0.0 named as the official non-alcoholic beer of the Premier League.
Taking our brands to new heights at the Super Bowl
Diageo’s NFL platform is another example of how our iconic brands can work with similarly iconic sporting events to deliver great results. Over the last five years, Diageo has built official partnerships with 20 different NFL teams, enabling advertising and profiling of our brands in stadiums and beyond. In the 2023 season alone, Diageo brands used over 70 hours of digital signage at NFL stadiums and over 71,000 samples were distributed across NFL league and team partner events.
Great brand and sports partnerships also allow for fantastic creativity to help build awareness and excitement. Nowhere was that creativity more evident than on Super Bowl Sunday in February. In the week leading up to the Super Bowl, Don Julio took over the STRAT Hotel in Las Vegas – using a projection to turn the hotel tower into a 1,149 ft tall bottle of Don Julio 1942.
Winning in India with Royal Challenge
One of the world’s most popular and watched annual sporting events is the Indian Premier League Cricket (IPL). While many brands sponsor teams, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), one of the founder members of the IPL, and named after renowned Indian whisky brand Royal Challenge, is owned by United Spirits Limited, part of Diageo plc.
This ownership gives Royal Challenge whisky unprecedented visibility in one of the largest whisky markets in the world. One of the greatest success stories this year has been via the Women’s Premier League, with the RCB women's team winning the title in March. The global reach and attraction of sport is undeniable. We will continue to invest to showcase our iconic brands at events that excite and matter to consumers across the globe.