Appeal to the young is aim of Witnness

The distance between Dundalk and Fairyhouse Racecourse is about 30 miles, but this weekend Guinness must be hoping that that the black cloud that hangs over the brand in Dundalk, due to the recent job cuts announcement, doesn't move south to defeat the feel-good brand-building purpose of the Witnness music festival.

Guinness is spending an estimated £3 million (€3.8 million) on the two-day festival in an attempt to recruit the next generation of drinkers. It is a high-risk and very expensive strategy, not least because Guinness as a product is very definitely not the drink of choice for the young people who will pile into Fairyhouse over the weekend.

In addition to the £3 million spend on the two-day event, the company has also spent nearly £1 million in fees split between MCD, the promoters, and KLP Entertainments, a UK company specialising in outdoor music festivals.

Ads with the word "Witnness" started appearing late last year and, according to Mr Shilen Patel, Guinness brand manager, research showed that the rogue double "n" in Witnness, plus the use of the Guinness font, were instantly recognisable to young people as a reference to a Guinness event. Since then, in the run-up to Fairyhouse, the advertising has been intensified in radio, TV and the press, although the Guinness name is still not a major feature.

Mr Patel says that the event is about "building a relationship between our customers and the brand.

"Through an event like this, we get to know these people, find out what they like and what they're interested in," he says.

It's not the first time that Guinness has so obviously tried to attract the youth market. Its launch of bottled Guinness on draught was backed by an advertisement campaign based on the improbable scenario of clubbers being interested in drinking Guinness. Mr Patel rejects the idea that the savvy Red Bull and vodka generation will see Witnness as a desperate attempt to add youth cred to the brand against a backdrop of falling sales figures.

"There isn't a single brand that doesn't want a great relationship with young drinkers," he says. As the current marketing strategy is all about brand and not about product, Mr Patel admits that it is unlikely to see immediate results in terms of the fickle youth market actually ordering a Guinness at the bar.

"Good brands are successful irrespective of product," he says. "It's simplistic to draw a line between brand and product sales in that way."

The Fairyhouse festival is only one event in a year-long programme that all come under the Witnness strategy. A previous Witnness event involved flying David Bowie into Dublin at a rumoured cost of £250,000 for a concert in the modest-sized HQ venue. It is easy to see why the more conservative types in St James's Gate are already questioning the wisdom of devoting so much promotional budget to one strategy.

Ticket sales for Fairyhouse are said to be sluggish, hovering around the 15,000 mark (the venue's capacity is 40,000). However, there are likely to be substantial ticket sales on the day.

Guinness is tied into a three-year deal with MCD, but as yet, according to Mr Patel, it has no plans to repeat Witnness in Fairyhouse next year. "We'll be reviewing the success of the event and making a decision based on the results," he says.