Guinness Twins Featuring Lanny And Tracy Barnes Goes Viral?

Lanny and Tracy Barnes, the twin Olympic biathletes that switched places for this year’s Winter Games, are starring in a new Guinness ad that has big potential to become viral.

With the Olympics coming up, brands are starting up their campaigns in order to get some attention around the 22nd Winter Games.

This week Volvo released video featuring Zlatan Ibrahimovic, although the campaign is not related.

But who cares? The video is amazing and the original upload already reached 2,7 million eyeballs in just 3 days.

Yesterday Guinness also released  a great new commercial starring U.S. biathletes Tracy and Lanny Barnes:

Guinness Twins – Made of More

If you don’t know the story of these twin athletes, just watch the commercial, it’s remarkably affecting, given that it’s mostly just a static image and some text coming and going.

Check out the video here:

The video is made by BBDO New York, who seems to have another winner for Guinness, after last year’s ‘Basketbal’ commercial.

In this commercial we see a wheelchair basketbal team on an indoor court.

They’re playing with total focus, and the camera captures their energy and intent with a sensitive lack of intrusion.

It’s not until the end that you realize the scenario isn’t what you thought and you’ve actually witnessed a touching moment on the nature of true friendship.

Check out the video here:

My Opinion?

Tracy Barnes was qualified for the Winter Olympics in Sochi, while Lanny didn’t because she fell ill and had to sit out three of four tryout races.

Tracy giving up her spot to her sister is not just the love she has for her twin sister, but it’s definitely also the love for the sport.

I believe BBDO has succeeded to visualize the true emotion that comes with sports, where so many other campaigns have failed.

In my opinion, that’s what distinguishes Guinness in respect to for example Heineken’s fake Champions League video’s.

Can’t wait for the Olympics to begin!

What About You?
How would you rate this commercial? Does it inspires you? Looking forward to your comments!

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About the Author
Laurens Bianchi is an independent online (sport) marketing professional from the Netherlands and has been blogging on ViralBlog since 2008. Currently Laurens is also the Social Media Consultant for the Royal Dutch Football Association. Follow him on Twitter or contact him on LinkedIn.