Widget Analysis

Guinness use of technology to achieve market share.
NFC Taps
Guinness is a company that fully utilises available technology to capture the attention and interest of their target audience. They manage to appeal to the younger and more tech savvy share of the market by employing the use of gadgetry in their products. One such example of this is the mobile marketing innovation which uses near field communication (NFC) technology to interact with consumers in a way that has never been seen before in the alcoholic drinks market.
The new technology has been activated in the entire array of new Guinness taps installed in pubs across Great Britain and Ireland. Within these outlets, consumers can interact with this NFC technology by tapping their smartphone

Nitrogen is favoured over carbon dioxide because the bubbles formed in the drink by nitrogen are smaller and deliver that creamy texture.
In order to allow a technology that was originally designed to allow the stout to be poured on draft in pubs be delivered in a can, a clever use of technology must be employed. A widget is used. A widget is a hollow, spherical piece of plastic with a tiny hole in it.
The widget is filled with nitrogen gas and mixes with a small amount of the stout. When the can is opened, the widget releases the nitrogen gas stored inside it. The nitrogen bubbles rise through the stout and create the thick, creamy head that makes Guinness so iconic.
Without this use of technology it could be argued that Guinness would be unable to sell their product in a can as the end result would be too unappealing to the consumer. Through this use of technology, Guinness is able to capture a share of the canned beers

With the use of these controllers and with instructions that are on the screen, users use their hands to control the screen, navigating through the gallery of images. If they see their own photo or a photo that interests them, they can zoom in by clenching their fist.
In the 3 months since launch, the @HomeofGuinness page on Instagram has 3.8 times more followers, 4.5 times new Instagram posts and 1100% growth in weekly posts (that’s a leap from 37 to 421 images posted using #StorehouseStory per week).
This use of technology enables Guinness to engage with potential consumers through use of social media. Visitors to the storehouse will use the social media wall to upload and tag pictures of themselves and friends taken during the tour of the brewery. This is essentially free advertising for Guinness which can be used to raise awareness of their brand to potential consumers. This form of advertising would not be possible without the use of social media and Guinness’ social media