Airing this month as the first tournament kicks off in Indonesia, spots created by Saatchi & Saatchi Malaysia give a comical account of the history of pool, supported by posters and point-of-purchase advertising in bars across Asia.
Amateur Guinness-sponsored pool tournaments will also run in bars to coincide with the 9-Ball Tour.
The iconic beer brand has taken over from San Miguel as this year's tournament sponsor. "We wanted to increase top-of-mind awareness for Guinness across Asia and drive home the three Guinness brand pillars - power, goodness and communion," said Tanya Clarke, regional brand director, Guinness Asia-Pacific.
The campaign chimes with the global Guinness 'Greatness' positioning that celebrates inspirational behaviour - in this case, the invention and evolution of one of the few sports played while drinking beer.
"Rather than evolving what San Miguel did, we wanted to relaunch the property and approach the game from a different perspective," added Clarke. "The idea was to look back at the inventive nature of the guys who created pool, a game which was born in Northern Europe."
The spots were shot in South Africa and Malaysia by Greg Gray through Velocity Films.
