“The Guinness Book of Records,” which came out for the first time in Britain on August 27, 1955, quickly became a best-seller. In what is now called the “Guinness World Records” book, you can read about things that people and animals have done.
Sir Hugh Beaver, who started the Guinness Brewery in Dublin in 1759, had an idea for a record book while he was on a hunting trip in Ireland in November 1951. Beaver and his hunting group caught a golden plover, but they couldn’t find a book that said if it was Europe’s fastest game bird or not.
The inside story
Beaver ordered a record book to be made so that people who went to the pub could use it to settle their disagreements. He worked for Norris and Ross McWhirter, who ran a company in London that gave facts and figures to the media and advertising. After being given away for free at pubs with Guinness signs, the book quickly became a best-seller when it came out again in the fall. It was first published in 1956 in the United States. Since then, it has been printed in several other countries. The Mc Whirters looked worldwide for proof to back up what they said. Norris McWhirter, who edited the book, was Ross McWhirter’s brother until the Irish Republican Army members killed him in 1975. Quality is maintained in the hardest degree in guinness world record arrangements.
This question is what got people to start making the Guinness Book of World Records. It’s one of the most famous and long-lasting ways to identify a brand in advertising history. And a bird was the reason why it was made.
With Sir Hugh Beaver, the head of the Guinness Brewery, on a hunting trip in Europe in 1951. Beaver had trouble getting on target and kept missing it. He was sure that that game bird must be the fastest on Earth. He asked his friends this question, but they didn’t know how to answer. Everyone was interested in world records when everyone was trying to break the four-minute mile record. They decided to market the book because it did so well right away.
In the first year, 50,000 copies of the book were printed with the Guinness logo. By Christmas, it was the best-selling book in the UK.
The book came out in 1955. Website of Guinness as a source. Beaver was thrilled to hear that people liked his book. People were also willing to pay to get their hands on the brand. He was surprised by how many people wanted to hear what he had to say.
In the end, “It was a gift for marketing, not a way to make money.” In 1956, the United States published the Guinness Book of Superlatives. Grosvenor Motors even had a corporate edition. Beaver and the McWhirter brothers started a new company called Guinness Superlatives to make more copies of the book and reach more people. By 1960, more than 500,000 copies had been sold, and by 1966, the French and German versions were at the top of the best-seller lists in their own countries.
The book, which was meant to be a marketing tool, became a big deal every October, just for the Christmas market. The Guinness Book of Records Museum opened in the Empire State Building in 1976. This gave Guinness quick access to prime real estate in New York City. Twenty years later, the promotional book had gone from being sold in small Irish pubs to being one of the most famous landmarks in the world.