# data[].attributes.body
The piece went on to win more awards than any other commercial in 1999 (Clio Awards,[2] D&AD Awards, Cannes Lions), and in 2002 was voted the "Best ad of all time" in a poll conducted by Channel 4 and The Sunday Times.[3]

# data[].attributes.headline
The advert was made with a 6 million pound budget

# data[].attributes.subject
The advert was made with a 6 million pound budget

# data[].attributes.body
It cost

# data[].attributes.body
Nice that it refers to James Joyce's Portrait of the Artist - one of the greatest books that everyone should read... (Hate that word should, though.)

# data[].attributes.body
used as the cover image for Channel 4 and The Sunday Times book of the 100 greatest tv ads.

# data[].attributes.body
'Guinness, Surfer
Music: Phat Planet by Leftfield
Taken from the album Rhythm and Stealth, this was the track that put electro-beats band Leftfield before the public in the UK. This ad always makes me want to go clubbing, where the last thing I’d want is a pint of Guinness.'
https://mumbrella.com.au/50-ads-where-music-made-the-difference-and-why-agencies-should-think-of-music-first-not-last-87549

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
No list of the greatest ads of the past 40 years would be complete without Guinness's 'Surfer' ad. The TV spot was creatively brilliant, commercially successful and helped propel the careers of everyone behind it - the brand marketer Andy Fennell, AMV BBDO's Walter Campbell and director Jonathan Glazer.

Little did the team know they would be making a classic when AMV pitched for the Guinness business in late 1997. The agency of record on the brand for a dozen years had been Ogilvy & Mather, which was behind iconic ads including 'The man with the Guinness'. But when Fennell joined Guinness (which was not yet owned by Diageo), he says the brand's performance was "lacking somewhat". And that while he worked hard to avoid changing the agency, they just couldn't make it work.

"The ad communication was not as strong. The campaign at the time was 'Not everything in black and white makes sense' and it was trying to cause reappraisal. We wanted something that would get back the product truth," he explains.

The brief for the subsequent pitch was simple: to get the brand growing faster. And four agencies were called in to see if they could find the "product truth" that would catalyse sales. The only presentation Fennell remembers is AMV's, given by then CEO Andrew Robertson and founder David Abbott, to a number of Guinness execs, including the CEO, who was there because "it was quite an important decision for us".

They had booked a two-hour meeting, but within 25 minutes Fennell says he knew they had found their new agency.

So often ideas get diluted down because people are worried about what the public will think.

Andy Fennell

The product truth AMV honed in on was the time it takes to pour a pint of Guinness and how they could make a virtue out of this using the strapline 'Good things come to those who wait'. AMV's Campbell says the inspiration for that line indirectly came from Abbott, who had written a few straplines with the word 'good' in them: BT's 'It's good to talk' for example.

The pitch included seven minutes of strategy and then some scripts for TV ads and posters that aimed to dramatise that product truth in an engaging way. The first script was for a spot called 'Swim Black', which Fennell recalls was the "only time in my entire career when I've commissioned a script as it was presented".

There was also a poster showing a man sitting on the beach looking out to sea waiting for the perfect wave. There is a little disagreement between Fennell and Campbell as to whose idea it was to turn that poster into a film, but as Fennell says "it doesn't really matter now". But what was decided was that Swim Black would go first and Surfer would go second.

It is in part the success of Swim Black that ensured Surfer got made. Campbell claims the ad led to a 12% uplift in Guinness's sales; Fennell is a little less forthcoming with actual figures but says it was a commercial success, beating all its internal targets, helped by the launch of a new innovation at the same time - Guinness Extra Cold. But it was the success of the first ad that gave both brand and agency the confidence to do Surfer.

And it needed confidence. The ad would end up costing more than £1m to make - almost half of which went on post production and adding in the horses. Fennell admits to asking if the horses were really needed because of how much they cost. But AMV was insistent.

"There was quite a few times when we could have made easier choices and we didn't," recalls Fennell. "Surfer was a special moment when all the stars aligned and it just worked."

That isn't to say the spot came together easily. Campbell recalls a trip to Cornwall to find people surfing and says initially he had the idea of a pod of whales creating the waves. But as part of the creation of Swim Black he asked a researcher to get a picture of Neptune, the god of the sea in Roman mythology, for the bar in the ad and he came back with an image of Neptune's horses. "This image popped up and I knew it was the image for Surfer," he says.

Pitch perfect

Finding the music was also tricky. Campbell estimates he listened to about 2,000 tracks, searching for "the sound of the blood in the surfer's head when he's on the waves and he knows he could die". It was pure chance he came across Leftfield's 'Phat Planet', it hadn't been released yet but came recommended by someone he knew who had worked on the film 'Breaking the Waves'. The voiceover, Campbell was clearer on: he wanted someone unknown and not Irish. "The one thing you don't need to tell people about Guinness is that it's Irish."

Twenty years on the ad still resonates. Of people questioned by Marketing Week and YouGov Omnibus, 48% remember the ad, rising to 72% among those aged 35 to 54. And among people that recognise it, 57% attribute it to Guinness (although quite a few thought it was for Old Spice). Asked to name the 'best ad' of the 1990s, 25% say Guinness's Surfer, ahead of Tango on 15% and Wonderbra on 8%.

But why does the ad work so well? Fennell describes it as a "product truth dramatised in a really surprising way", while Campbell says it harks back to an era when brands had the aspiration to make ads that were "as entertaining as the TV programmes and films they were shown around". Both talk to the confidence of the teams too, a momentum that had built around the campaign.

"The agency had a really good idea and then we all just protected that idea until the public had a chance to see it," says Fennell. "So often ideas get diluted down because people are worried about what the public will think. It didn't do that well in research, actually. But we ignored the research. That's not me being an advocate for ignoring research, but sometimes you have such a profound belief in what you can produce."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Guinness's 'Surfer' ad didn't do that well in research 'but we ignored it'

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
No list of the greatest ads of the past 40 years would be complete without Guinness's 'Surfer' ad. The TV spot was creatively brilliant, commercially successful and helped propel the careers of everyone behind it - the brand marketer Andy Fennell, AMV BBDO's Walter Campbell and director Jonathan Glazer.

# data[].attributes.headline
Guinness: A campaign that's been brewing for 80 years. Guinness started its journey into advertising almost apologetically, but over the past eight decades it has produced a masterclass in branding. Ian Burrell raises a jar to a true original. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/advertising/guinness-a-campaign-thats-been-brewing-for-80-years-1419144.html

# data[].attributes.subject
Guinness: A campaign that's been brewing for 80 years. Guinness started its journey into advertising almost apologetically, but over the past eight decades it has produced a masterclass in branding. Ian Burrell raises a jar to a true original. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/advertising/guinness-a-campaign-thats-been-brewing-for-80-years-1419144.html

# data[].attributes.body
‘The Surfer’, created by British agency AMV-BBDO, topped Channel 4’s ‘100 Greatest Ads’ in 2000.

Harking back to Big Wave (1981), an Irish ad in which the Guinness surge was also celebrated through a surfing motif, the ad drew on Melville’s Moby Dick and Walter Crane’s painting, ‘Neptune’s Horses’, in its evocation of strangeness, mythology and the decisive moment.

For its critics, however, ‘The Surfer’ was a step too far.

“I think it had gone too far away from the product,” as Julian Spooner, a former marketing director with Guinness, told the BBC. “It created a separation between Guinness, the advertising brand, and Guinness, the brand itself.”
https://poloconghaile.com/5-amazing-guinness-ads/

# data[].attributes.headline
250 years of Guinness ads. Guinness was founded in 1759 but didn't publish its first ad until 1794.   Through much of the 20th century, doctors thought Guinness had medicinal properties. Even until the 1950s mothers in Irish hospitals were given Guinness after giving birth because of the high iron content.So it's no surprise that the Benson agency's simple tagline "Guinness is good for you" was a hit with consumers when it was introduced in 1929.https://www.businessinsider.com/an-evolution-of-guinness-advertising-2012-3?IR=T

# data[].attributes.subject
250 years of Guinness ads. Guinness was founded in 1759 but didn't publish its first ad until 1794.   Through much of the 20th century, doctors thought Guinness had medicinal properties. Even until the 1950s mothers in Irish hospitals were given Guinness after giving birth because of the high iron content.So it's no surprise that the Benson agency's simple tagline "Guinness is good for you" was a hit with consumers when it was introduced in 1929.https://www.businessinsider.com/an-evolution-of-guinness-advertising-2012-3?IR=T

# data[].attributes.headline
	My colleague can drink pints of Guinness until the cows come home, without having to empty his bladder. However, if he strays into lager quaffing, it goes straight through him. Explanation, anyone?

# data[].attributes.subject
	My colleague can drink pints of Guinness until the cows come home, without having to empty his bladder. However, if he strays into lager quaffing, it goes straight through him. Explanation, anyone?

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.theguardian.com/notesandqueries/query/0,,-1010,00.html

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A Baby Guinness is a "shooter" or small alcoholic drink poured to look just like a Guinness Stout. By using a coffee liqueur and an Irish cream, you can recreate the iconic look of a Guinness' dark body and creamy head. Pick a shot glass....

# data[].attributes.headline
My parents used to hire a bowser of Guinness to pull behind the old car when we went on family holidays. 

# data[].attributes.subject
My parents used to hire a bowser of Guinness to pull behind the old car when we went on family holidays. 

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.spinemd.com/news-philanthropy/drink-up-5-health-benefits-of-guinness-beer

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The galloping sea horses of the Guinness "surfers" spot ushered in kind of advertising spectacular that had never been seen before in the UK.

It cost the brewer a small fortune to make but its impact was astonishing and many people still rate it the greatest ad of all time.

Using state-of-the-art technology, it was a true jaw-dropper in which crashing waves turn into stampeding horses that appear to be racing a group of surfers to the beach.

The ad was the result of nine days spent shooting surfers in Hawaii and a further three filming horses in a studio.

The spot boasted the same digital technology as that used for the movie Titanic and continued the theme of all good things come to those who wait with the surfers waiting for the ultimate wave just as Guinness drinkers wait for their pint to settle.

This ad was kindly donated by the Arrows Archive, which contains all TV ads nominated for the BTAA Awards since 1977. The archive is maintained by the History of Advertising Trust.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Guinness 'surfer' by Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The galloping sea horses of the Guinness "surfers" spot ushered in kind of advertising spectacular that had never been seen before in the UK. It cost the brewer a small fortune to make but its impact was astonishing and many people still rate it the greatest ad of all time.

# data[].attributes.body
The iconic music that plays a huge part in building the tension in the advert is by British electronic band Leftfield; it almost mimics the racing heartbeat of someone under an extreme feeling of stress or excitement, or in this case, both.

# data[].attributes.body
The advert takes inspiration from an 1893 painting called “Neptune’s Horses” by Walter Crane, with the waves turning into actual horses as the surfers attempt to conquer nature.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Welcome to the second instalment in our series, Re:Capture Your Audience, where we take a look back at classic advertising campaigns of yesteryear and reimagine them for the present. We analyse what has changed in the intervening years and what it will take to capture our audience today

In our first episode we tackled a cult classic ad, Hamlet Cigar's Photobooth from 1987.

We are being even more ambitious in this episode, tackling what many consider the greatest advert of all time
"Surfer" by Guiness, 1999
Shot on location in Hawaii and directed by Jonathan Glazer for London creative agency Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO, the advert features a group of Polynesian surfers witing to catch the ultimate wave.

The advert takes inspiration from an 1893 painting called "Neptune's Horses" by Walter Crane, with the waves turning into actual horses as the surfers attempt to conquer nature.

The iconic music that plays a huge part in building the tension in the advert is by British electronic band Leftfield; it almost mimics the racing heartbeat of someone under an extreme feeling of stress or excitement, or in this case, both.
Concept:
The original ad is largely focused on man's battle with nature and the patience required to reach your ultimate goal.

30 years have passed since the ad launched and the growing pressures of work, the pursuit of a "perfect" life and always connected technology have thrust mental health and what happiness means into public focus.

Our protagonist is no longer merely conquering nature, he is trying to conquer his own internal thoughts and the pressure modern life exerts on him.
Setting:
It would be too easy to simply just reimagine the surf setting and update it for the modern day.

Instead we have decided to move it to an equally immersive and exhilarating experience. With the growing trend of holidaymakers wanting to experience "authentic" events and push the boundaries of adventure, we pick one of the worlds ultimate joy rides: The Pamplona Bull Run

We start the film with slow moving shots of the empty San Fermin streets, with only a few clues as to the festival being prepared. The streets start to fill with runners and spectators. The anticipation of the crowd builds within the streets as the music builds.

As the music kicks in our crowd starts to move and one or two of the bulls come into the picture and people start to hide in doorways and escape the bulls horns.

The streets become completely overrun by bulls and other, more terrifying, mythical and grotesque beasts, many more than in real life, with just our protagonist left to fend for himself.

As he reaches the end of the narrow streets amazingly unharmed and emerges heroic, he is greeted by his fellow runners in celebration.
Channels:
Building anticipation is a key theme of the advert, so we would want to reflect this within the campaign. We would introduce a teaser campaign across TV, VOD, social and digital OOH.

Short clips of the anticipation of the crowd within the streets as the music builds in the first few notes to be broadcast on TV and within 6 second bumper ads on YouTube, and short clips on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

In the 2 nd week we reveal more of the campaign, as one or two of the bulls come into the picture and people start to hide in doorways and escape the bulls horns.

Finally, as the campaign culminates, the full advert is shown with the streets becoming completely overrun by the terrifying beasts, with him finally escaping victoriously.
Technology:
Alongside, the traditional linear video, we also create an immersive 360 virtual reality experience.

We position 360 degree camera's to a number of different protagonists, a few runners, spectators and even some of the feared bulls themselves. As the CGI beasts join the ad, these will also be part of the viewing experience for a seriously impressive ad to be enjoyed on Virtual Reality headsets.

This technology was recently seen in virtual reality versions of Star Wars and the Ben Hur reboot.

Tackling arguably the most famous advert of all time can be considered incredibly ambitious or just plain foolish. However, analysing the advert has made us appreciate the original even more and confirmed to us the power of film.

We just hope our new take on it has been able to do justice to the spirit of the original.

Of course, we aren't the first people to tackle this iconic ad. Brewdog parodied the ad a few years ago to promote it's own Stout.

At MAGNAFI we work with brands to ensure they reach relevant audiences with engaging and entertaining content. Contact us today to see how we can transform your business.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Revisiting Classic Advertising Campaigns - Guinness Surfer | Magnafi

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Welcome to the second instalment in our series, Re:Capture Your Audience, where we take a look back at classic advertising campaigns of yesteryear and reimagine them for the present. We analyse what has changed in the intervening years and what it will take to capture our audience today In our first episode we tackled a cult classic ad, Hamlet Cigar's Photobooth from 1987.

# data[].attributes.body
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_things_come_to_those_who_wait_(Guinness)

# data[].attributes.body
Get kids hooked on Guinness by breastfeeding while drinking, give em foetal alcohol syndrome. Yea nice one Dan

# data[].attributes.body
A common misconception is that Guinness is black, but in fact it’s coloured by roasted barley which gives it a ruby red colour.

# data[].attributes.headline
5. Guinness for breastfeeding?Some breastfeeding experts and midwives do recommend that nursing mothers should drink small amounts of Guinness. Should they really give this advice? Well it does stimulate prolactin, because of a polysaccharide that’s in the barley. However many experts would recommend the no-alcohol route when breastfeeding, so it’s your choice – a non-alcoholic drink that contains barley, or a small glass of Mothers Milk.

# data[].attributes.subject
5. Guinness for breastfeeding?Some breastfeeding experts and midwives do recommend that nursing mothers should drink small amounts of Guinness. Should they really give this advice? Well it does stimulate prolactin, because of a polysaccharide that’s in the barley. However many experts would recommend the no-alcohol route when breastfeeding, so it’s your choice – a non-alcoholic drink that contains barley, or a small glass of Mothers Milk.

# data[].attributes.body
This classic ad by Guinness uses the metaphore of surfers waiting for the ultimate wave. Part of the ‘Good things come to those who wait’ campaign
http://www.sounds-familiar.info/1999/09/guinness-the-surfer-white-horses/

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
No list of the greatest ads of the past 40 years would be complete without Guinness's 'Surfer' ad. The TV spot was creatively brilliant, commercially successful and helped propel the careers of everyone behind it - the brand marketer Andy Fennell, AMV BBDO's Walter Campbell and director Jonathan Glazer.

Little did the team know they would be making a classic when AMV pitched for the Guinness business in late 1997. The agency of record on the brand for a dozen years had been Ogilvy & Mather, which was behind iconic ads including 'The man with the Guinness'. But when Fennell joined Guinness (which was not yet owned by Diageo), he says the brand's performance was "lacking somewhat". And that while he worked hard to avoid changing the agency, they just couldn't make it work.

"The ad communication was not as strong. The campaign at the time was 'Not everything in black and white makes sense' and it was trying to cause reappraisal. We wanted something that would get back the product truth," he explains.

The brief for the subsequent pitch was simple: to get the brand growing faster. And four agencies were called in to see if they could find the "product truth" that would catalyse sales. The only presentation Fennell remembers is AMV's, given by then CEO Andrew Robertson and founder David Abbott, to a number of Guinness execs, including the CEO, who was there because "it was quite an important decision for us".

They had booked a two-hour meeting, but within 25 minutes Fennell says he knew they had found their new agency.

So often ideas get diluted down because people are worried about what the public will think.

Andy Fennell

The product truth AMV honed in on was the time it takes to pour a pint of Guinness and how they could make a virtue out of this using the strapline 'Good things come to those who wait'. AMV's Campbell says the inspiration for that line indirectly came from Abbott, who had written a few straplines with the word 'good' in them: BT's 'It's good to talk' for example.

The pitch included seven minutes of strategy and then some scripts for TV ads and posters that aimed to dramatise that product truth in an engaging way. The first script was for a spot called 'Swim Black', which Fennell recalls was the "only time in my entire career when I've commissioned a script as it was presented".

There was also a poster showing a man sitting on the beach looking out to sea waiting for the perfect wave. There is a little disagreement between Fennell and Campbell as to whose idea it was to turn that poster into a film, but as Fennell says "it doesn't really matter now". But what was decided was that Swim Black would go first and Surfer would go second.

It is in part the success of Swim Black that ensured Surfer got made. Campbell claims the ad led to a 12% uplift in Guinness's sales; Fennell is a little less forthcoming with actual figures but says it was a commercial success, beating all its internal targets, helped by the launch of a new innovation at the same time - Guinness Extra Cold. But it was the success of the first ad that gave both brand and agency the confidence to do Surfer.

And it needed confidence. The ad would end up costing more than £1m to make - almost half of which went on post production and adding in the horses. Fennell admits to asking if the horses were really needed because of how much they cost. But AMV was insistent.

"There was quite a few times when we could have made easier choices and we didn't," recalls Fennell. "Surfer was a special moment when all the stars aligned and it just worked."

That isn't to say the spot came together easily. Campbell recalls a trip to Cornwall to find people surfing and says initially he had the idea of a pod of whales creating the waves. But as part of the creation of Swim Black he asked a researcher to get a picture of Neptune, the god of the sea in Roman mythology, for the bar in the ad and he came back with an image of Neptune's horses. "This image popped up and I knew it was the image for Surfer," he says.

Pitch perfect

Finding the music was also tricky. Campbell estimates he listened to about 2,000 tracks, searching for "the sound of the blood in the surfer's head when he's on the waves and he knows he could die". It was pure chance he came across Leftfield's 'Phat Planet', it hadn't been released yet but came recommended by someone he knew who had worked on the film 'Breaking the Waves'. The voiceover, Campbell was clearer on: he wanted someone unknown and not Irish. "The one thing you don't need to tell people about Guinness is that it's Irish."

Twenty years on the ad still resonates. Of people questioned by Marketing Week and YouGov Omnibus, 48% remember the ad, rising to 72% among those aged 35 to 54. And among people that recognise it, 57% attribute it to Guinness (although quite a few thought it was for Old Spice). Asked to name the 'best ad' of the 1990s, 25% say Guinness's Surfer, ahead of Tango on 15% and Wonderbra on 8%.

But why does the ad work so well? Fennell describes it as a "product truth dramatised in a really surprising way", while Campbell says it harks back to an era when brands had the aspiration to make ads that were "as entertaining as the TV programmes and films they were shown around". Both talk to the confidence of the teams too, a momentum that had built around the campaign.

"The agency had a really good idea and then we all just protected that idea until the public had a chance to see it," says Fennell. "So often ideas get diluted down because people are worried about what the public will think. It didn't do that well in research, actually. But we ignored the research. That's not me being an advocate for ignoring research, but sometimes you have such a profound belief in what you can produce."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Guinness's 'Surfer' ad didn't do that well in research 'but we ignored it'

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
No list of the greatest ads of the past 40 years would be complete without Guinness's 'Surfer' ad. The TV spot was creatively brilliant, commercially successful and helped propel the careers of everyone behind it - the brand marketer Andy Fennell, AMV BBDO's Walter Campbell and director Jonathan Glazer.

# data[].attributes.body
This classic ad by Guinness uses the metaphore of surfers waiting for the ultimate wave. Part of the ‘Good things come to those who wait’ campaign
http://www.sounds-familiar.info/1999/09/guinness-the-surfer-white-horses/

# data[].attributes.body
The original ad is largely focused on man’s battle with nature and the patience required to reach your ultimate goal.

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.adweek.com/creativity/the-glory-of-surfer-one-of-the-greatest-guinness-ads-ever-made/

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Surfer is a integrated advertising campaign launched in 1999 by Diageo to promote Guinness-brand draught stout in the United Kingdom. The cornerstone of the campaign is a television commercial, originally 60 seconds long, which centred on a Polynesian surfer successfully taking on a gigantic wave.

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.marketingweek.com/2018/06/13/guinness-surfer/

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.horseandhound.co.uk/videos/news-videos/compton-cowboys-guinness-advert

Many of the horses have been rescued from auction houses, where they would have been sold for slaughter.
Read more at https://www.horseandhound.co.uk/videos/news-videos/compton-cowboys-guinness-advert#hkcDoppUhv90Ls8L.99

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Welcome to the second instalment in our series, Re:Capture Your Audience, where we take a look back at classic advertising campaigns of yesteryear and reimagine them for the present. We analyse what has changed in the intervening years and what it will take to capture our audience today

In our first episode we tackled a cult classic ad, Hamlet Cigar's Photobooth from 1987.

We are being even more ambitious in this episode, tackling what many consider the greatest advert of all time
"Surfer" by Guiness, 1999
Shot on location in Hawaii and directed by Jonathan Glazer for London creative agency Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO, the advert features a group of Polynesian surfers witing to catch the ultimate wave.

The advert takes inspiration from an 1893 painting called "Neptune's Horses" by Walter Crane, with the waves turning into actual horses as the surfers attempt to conquer nature.

The iconic music that plays a huge part in building the tension in the advert is by British electronic band Leftfield; it almost mimics the racing heartbeat of someone under an extreme feeling of stress or excitement, or in this case, both.
Concept:
The original ad is largely focused on man's battle with nature and the patience required to reach your ultimate goal.

30 years have passed since the ad launched and the growing pressures of work, the pursuit of a "perfect" life and always connected technology have thrust mental health and what happiness means into public focus.

Our protagonist is no longer merely conquering nature, he is trying to conquer his own internal thoughts and the pressure modern life exerts on him.
Setting:
It would be too easy to simply just reimagine the surf setting and update it for the modern day.

Instead we have decided to move it to an equally immersive and exhilarating experience. With the growing trend of holidaymakers wanting to experience "authentic" events and push the boundaries of adventure, we pick one of the worlds ultimate joy rides: The Pamplona Bull Run

We start the film with slow moving shots of the empty San Fermin streets, with only a few clues as to the festival being prepared. The streets start to fill with runners and spectators. The anticipation of the crowd builds within the streets as the music builds.

As the music kicks in our crowd starts to move and one or two of the bulls come into the picture and people start to hide in doorways and escape the bulls horns.

The streets become completely overrun by bulls and other, more terrifying, mythical and grotesque beasts, many more than in real life, with just our protagonist left to fend for himself.

As he reaches the end of the narrow streets amazingly unharmed and emerges heroic, he is greeted by his fellow runners in celebration.
Channels:
Building anticipation is a key theme of the advert, so we would want to reflect this within the campaign. We would introduce a teaser campaign across TV, VOD, social and digital OOH.

Short clips of the anticipation of the crowd within the streets as the music builds in the first few notes to be broadcast on TV and within 6 second bumper ads on YouTube, and short clips on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

In the 2 nd week we reveal more of the campaign, as one or two of the bulls come into the picture and people start to hide in doorways and escape the bulls horns.

Finally, as the campaign culminates, the full advert is shown with the streets becoming completely overrun by the terrifying beasts, with him finally escaping victoriously.
Technology:
Alongside, the traditional linear video, we also create an immersive 360 virtual reality experience.

We position 360 degree camera's to a number of different protagonists, a few runners, spectators and even some of the feared bulls themselves. As the CGI beasts join the ad, these will also be part of the viewing experience for a seriously impressive ad to be enjoyed on Virtual Reality headsets.

This technology was recently seen in virtual reality versions of Star Wars and the Ben Hur reboot.

Tackling arguably the most famous advert of all time can be considered incredibly ambitious or just plain foolish. However, analysing the advert has made us appreciate the original even more and confirmed to us the power of film.

We just hope our new take on it has been able to do justice to the spirit of the original.

Of course, we aren't the first people to tackle this iconic ad. Brewdog parodied the ad a few years ago to promote it's own Stout.

At MAGNAFI we work with brands to ensure they reach relevant audiences with engaging and entertaining content. Contact us today to see how we can transform your business.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Revisiting Classic Advertising Campaigns - Guinness Surfer | Magnafi

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Welcome to the second instalment in our series, Re:Capture Your Audience, where we take a look back at classic advertising campaigns of yesteryear and reimagine them for the present. We analyse what has changed in the intervening years and what it will take to capture our audience today In our first episode we tackled a cult classic ad, Hamlet Cigar's Photobooth from 1987.

# data[].attributes.body
Believe it or not, ordering a pint of Guinness requires a certain amount of skill, as well as appreciation for the barman’s training. Guinness is poured in a very specific way, it’s a kind of necessary ritual and the worst thing you can do is dare to interrupt the ritual. If you are a visitor to Ireland from a country where fast service is part of the culture, you may struggle a bit with ordering a pint of Guinness. Remember there’s absolutely no point in trying to rush the process, this can be perceived at being disrespectful, both to the barman and the legendary drink itself.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
250 years of genius: The evolution of Guinness advertising

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
For 250 years, Guinness has been been at the forefront of successful Irish branding. We take a look at how the company used advertising in print and on television to spread the word of the black stuff.

# data[].attributes.body
Building on what Asha said, the pouring of a Guinness is very important. If you're poured a Guinness wrong in a pub in Ireland fights have broken out. Hold the glass at a 45 degree angle, pour until it's about three quarters full, pause to allow the head to form and then top off the rest. Have the foam just overhang onto of the pint and then leave to settle.

# data[].attributes.body
The plot centers on a group of surfers, waiting for the perfect wave. As it arrives, the crashing 'white horses' turn into actual horses. One by one, a surfer 'crashes out', leaving only one, who manages to conquer the wave. The others join him as they celebrate on the shore.

# data[].attributes.body
I spoke to AMV BBDO art director Walter Campbell by phone about “Surfer” when it was released back in 1999. Campbell told me he was influenced a lot by the old “Guinness Is Good for You” ads. “We looked at the history of Guinness … and the way that imagery stayed with you,” Campbell said. “We wanted to get into something like that, something that had a sort of strangeness or mythology to it.”

The image of giant, ghostly horses galloping atop the waves came directly from Walter Crane’s 1890s painting Neptune’s Horses. “We thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be amazing if we could bring that [painting] to life,'” Campbell said.

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.thedrum.com/news/2017/09/18/ad-the-day-guinness-visits-the-compton-cowboys-horse-riders-who-said-neigh-gang

# data[].attributes.body
building on what Cian said about building on what Asha said, Guinness shouldn't be poured on an angle that is only for larger's, such as Fosters and Carling.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Guinness has a legendary advertising history dating back to John Gilroy's famous illustrations of the 1930s and '40s, created via ad agency S.H. Benson, featuring the zoo keeper and his animals, including the famous pint-balancing toucan, enjoying the Irish stout.

The brand has also unleashed countless renowned TV spots, from the Rutger Hauer "Pure Genius" spots of the 1980s to "Noitulove," the brilliantly playful human-history-in-reverse ad that won the Film Grand Prix at Cannes in 2006.

But any discussion about Guinness' greatest advertising always comes around, eventually, to "Surfer," the 1999 spot from Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO, directed by Jonathan Glazer, that likened the act of waiting for a slow-poured pint of Guinness to waiting for the perfect wave. The tagline: "Good things come to those who wait."

Keith Cartwright, executive creative director at Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners, chose "Surfer" as one of his three favorite spots when Adweek sat down with him at One Show judging in March for our "Best Ads Ever" series.

"It was just so well crafted," Cartwright said. "Smart. Really simple. Not a ton of copy or dialogue. It didn't need it. It sticks with me as a high bar in craft."

I spoke to AMV BBDO art director Walter Campbell by phone about "Surfer" when it was released back in 1999. Campbell told me he was influenced a lot by the old "Guinness Is Good for You" ads. "We looked at the history of Guinness ... and the way that imagery stayed with you," Campbell said. "We wanted to get into something like that, something that had a sort of strangeness or mythology to it."

The image of giant, ghostly horses galloping atop the waves came directly from Walter Crane's 1890s painting Neptune's Horses. "We thought, 'Wouldn't it be amazing if we could bring that [painting] to life,'" Campbell said.

Tom Carty's copywriting, which Campbell described to me as "Moby Dick-esque with a bit of Dylan Thomas," completed the vision.

"Instead of making the kind of surf film where people say, 'Hey, I'd like to do that,' we wanted to say, 'Maybe you should think twice about coming out here,'" Campbell said.

At Cannes in 1999, "Surfer" lost out in the race for the Film Grand Prix to Lowe Howard-Spink's "Litany" for the Independent newspaper. But in 2002, "Surfer" was voted the best ad of all time by the British public in a poll by Channel 4 and The Sunday Times.

As for his other favorite ads, Cartwright chose Burger King's "Subservient Chicken" by CP+B and Barbarian Group, as well as a campaign he worked on at Wieden + Kennedy-Nike's "LeRoy Smith" for the Jordan Brand.

"It blew my mind. I didn't know we could do that kind of stuff," he said of the interactive BK campaign. "Props to those guys for putting in that work, and creating something that's still talked about today."

Of the "LeRoy Smith" campaign, Cartwright added: "It was just a lot of fun. It was one of the first big integrated campaigns that I had done that included all the social surfaces and film. We created apparel, we created shoes, we created this whole encompassing campaign that took off and did really well for the brand."

Check out the video at the top of this story for more from Cartwright, including recent BSSP work he's proud of, as well as who inspires him creatively outside advertising.

See more recent "Best Ads Ever" videos below. And for the full series, click here.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Glory of 'Surfer,' One of the Greatest Guinness Ads Ever Made

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Guinness has a legendary advertising history dating back to John Gilroy's famous illustrations of the 1930s and '40s, created via ad agency S.H. Benson, featuring the zoo keeper and his animals, including the famous pint-balancing toucan, enjoying the Irish stout.

# data[].attributes.body
Abbott Mead Vickers. AMV had a new line on the brand "good things come to those who wait". It was all about the time Guinness took to pour and settle.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/head-of-the-class-the-best-of-guinness-745985.html

“Surfer,” the 1999 spot from Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO, directed by Jonathan Glazer, that likened the act of waiting for a slow-poured pint of Guinness to waiting for the perfect wave. The tagline: “Good things come to those who wait.”
https://www.adweek.com/creativity/the-glory-of-surfer-one-of-the-greatest-guinness-ads-ever-made/