Why is Guinness Surger no longer available in UK shops?

Good question!

Diageo UK decided to withdraw the home Surger Unit after a 2 year trial. The reason they gave to the many customers who had forked out £16.99 for the unit was that the uptake wasn't as they had hoped for.

Tesco, who were the retail partner in this trial, were obviously not happy at having stock in their warehouses and shelves which wasn't selling either.

So why did it not sell as well as had been hoped for? Well one reason could be the marketing or more likely the lack of marketing. Do you remember all those adverts on TV for the "NEW GUINNESS SURGER UNIT"? or the full page ads in the national papers stating "GUINNESS DRAUGHT SURGER - BRING A TASTE OF DUBLIN HOME"?

No?!........Why not?

The reason you don't remember seeing any of this, is that it never happened! The only marketing I was ever aware of was on the Guinness.com website. Now I know that in this day and age most people have some sort of access to the internet, but for this to be the only outlet for advertising what is, in my opinion, the best take home version of Guinness ever to be sold, shows a lack of enthusiasim on Diageo's part.

Now that the bar-top Surger Unit seems to be taking off pretty well across the world, I think it's about time that Diageo UK gave the home unit another try or at the very least make Guinness Surger cans readily available to the general public. The cans are being produced in the UK, so why not sell them to people who actually want to buy them?

So far it's been a rocky year for Diageo. As the global recession deepens and consumer confidence remains low, they have been cutting costs and shedding jobs to protect their profits. In January, they said they may change or abandon $1.1 billion plans to reform production in Ireland and open a new state-of-the-art brewery.

If they need to increase sales then why not sell Surger cans to the public?


It's not all about sales though is it? It's about quality too. Two quotes I found on the internet back up this statement.

The first is from Master Brewmaster Fergal Murray - "Quality is the most important element of Guinness growth around the world. We have to have a visual experience, then a quality experience. And when you come to do an innovative product, you can't let the quality down."

Guinness Group marketing manager Matt Brand,referring to the Surger Unit, also said “(Customers) will now be able to order a draught Guinness in a much wider range of bars and trust that the quality, taste and presentation is exactly the same as it would be in Dublin"

I also just came across the following statement on the USA Guinness site - "In our relentless pursuit for the perfect pint of GUINNESS® Draught no matter where you are, we present the GUINNESS® Draught Surger® device."
Notice they say "NO MATTER WHERE YOU ARE"....well doesn't this included at home too?

If the guys at Guinness are truely serious about what they say with regards to the quality and presentation of their products, then why are people who want to drink Guinness at home being forced into buying an inferior product.......the Guinness Draught Widget can? Sure, the Widget can has done a good job for the past 21 years in giving us an imperfect version of the smooth and creamy Draught Guinness that we're used to getting at the pub, but times change, technology moves on and processes are refined. Guinness has achieved this refinement in the Surger Unit and Surger cans. So come on Guinness, give us what we want.....Surger cans in shops....NOW!

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Sláinte!