Guinness rolls out its first Facebook Canvas ad as the Open Gate Brewery opens its doors to the public

Facebook first launched the full screen vertical Canvas ads 26 February, intent on encouraging brands to deliver creative, interactive ads. Less than a month later, Guinness has tapped into the new medium looking to promote a new pilot brewery scheme at St. James’s Gate.

Check out a screengrab of the ad, which ran last Thursday and Friday, below.

Laura Di Simone, head of social at AMV BBDO, told The Drum: “Canvas has been used to provide a visually engaging announcement for their experimental Open Gate Brewery in Dublin which is opening its doors to the members of the public for the very first time. With stills and video to showcase the space to its fullest, it was an apt way to provide a richer experience to our Facebook audience.

“A real combination of effort between the Guinness marketing team, AMV BBDO, Carat, Wilson Hartnell and Facebook's agency team.”

On Canvas she concluded: "Canvas marks a new focus in social media marketing as it allows brands to deliver the equivalent of a full-screen microsite experience to their audience without them having to leave the platform. This should benefit brands and users alike as the opportunity for adding more value with longer-form, immersive content becomes easier to consume than ever before."

Around the launch, an @OpenGateBrewery Twitter account was also created to hit home the brewery’s open to the public status and publicise future events and schemes from the establishment.

Tickets for the experimental beer tasting cost €6 each.

Check out footage of the brewery on both Facebook and Instagram.

The pilot brewery at St. James's Gate has been running for over 100 years. Now we're opening its doors to the public so you can try our experimental brews. Visit www.guinnessopengate for more info.

A video posted by Guinness (@guinness) on Mar 3, 2016 at 4:25am PST