Good things come to those who wait

"Good things come to those who wait" is an advertising slogan used by Diageo in television, cinema, and print advertising campaigns promoting Guinness-brand draught stout in the United Kingdom. The slogan formed the cornerstone of advertising agency Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO's successful pitch to secure the Guinness account in 1996.Archer, Katy; " [http://www.channel4.com/4talent/ten4//noitulove.htm The Art of Advertising] " (interview with Matt Doman and Ian Heartfield), Channel 4, 16 January 2006. Retrieved 21 October 2007.] Their proposal was to turn around the negative consumer opinion of the length of time required to correctly pour a pint of Guinness from the tap, usually quoted as 119.5 seconds, as well as to encourage bartenders to take the time to do so. A similar idea had been incorporated into a number of Guinness campaigns in the past, such as the Irish "Guinness Time" television and cinema spots of the early 1990s.

The first piece of the "Good Things..." campaign to be launched was the sixty-second "Swimblack" television and cinema commercial, in which an aging local sports hero annually swims in a race from an offshore buoy to his brother's seafront pub against the "clock" of pint of Guinness being correctly poured at the bar. ["Swimblack" (1998), Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO.] The advertisement, which premiered on 16 May 1998, [ [http://www.prnewswire.co.uk/cgi/news/release?id=21223 Guinness comes to those who've waited] , PR Newswire for Europe, 1997. Retrieved 26 October 2007] was successful at boosting sales, particularly among the older male demographic. The other major success of the campaign during its original four-year run was the critically-acclaimed "Surfer" commercial released in 1999; a more serious black-and-white piece for television and cinema inspired by Walter Crane's 1892 painting "Neptune's Horses". [Nudd, T; "Creative: New Campaigns", Adweek, 19 April 1999. Available online at [http://www.allbusiness.com/marketing-advertising/4183400-1.html Allbusiness.com] , retrieved 24 October 2007] "Surfer" went on to be voted the "Best Ad of All Time" in a poll conducted by "The Sunday Times" and Channel 4 in 2002. [ [http://www.channel4.com/entertainment/tv/microsites/G/greatest/tv_ads/results.html 100 Greatest Ads of All Time] , "The Sunday Times"/Channel 4, 14 June 2002. Retrieved 24 October 2007.] After several other variations on the theme, including "Bet on Black" and "Dreamer", the campaign was put on the backburner. The primary motivation behind this was Diageo's decision to forgo regional advertising in the United Kingdom and Ireland in favour of pan-European campaigns, in the same manner as Guinness campaigns in North America and the African Michael Power series. The "Good Things..." slogan proved difficult to translate, and so a decision was made to pursue other campaign ideas. Two of the more successful slogans tried out between 2000 and 2005 were "Believe" ("Tom Crean", "Free In", "Volcano Rescue") and "A story of light and dark" ("Moth", "Mustang").

In 2005 Diageo made the decision to return to regional marketing campaigns. As such, Abbot Mead Vickers BBDO were presented with the choice of either coming up with a new slogan, or attempting to find a fresh take on "Good Things...". Feeling that none of the replacements that had been tried out in the intervening years had matched the appeal of Good Things..., the agency decided to attempt to find a new angle on their old concept. Several ideas were proposed, and the one believed to show the most promise was that of "The Longest Wait". After a basic script had been put together, the agency brought director Daniel Kleinman on board. The result was commercial "noitulovE", which followed three Guinness patrons travelling backwards through time, "de-evolving" into a number of species along the way. The piece was a huge success both critically and financially: it received more awards than any other commercial in the world in 2006, [Gunn, D;, Wilkie, E; "The Gunn Report and Showreel of the Year" (8th edition), FlaxmanWilkie, 30 November 2006. ISBN 978-0955164613] and was credited with pushing Guinness into the position of market leader in the United Kingdom beer market. ["Following the launch of "noitulovE", Guinness has achieved its highest market share on-trade. We have no doubt that the ad was a key part of what has been driving recent growth for the brand."—Georgina Meddows-Smith, Head of Guinness Marketing, On-trade, Diageo. ( [http://www.thinkbox.tv/server/show/ConCaseStudy.635] )]

Spurred on by this success, AMV BBDO produced several more "Good Things..." print and television commercials in 2006 and 2007, such as "Hands" and "Fridge". The most recent item in the campaign is "Tipping Point", Guinness' most expensive commercial to date, which premiered on British television on 13 November 2007. [Martin, N; [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/11/08/nadvert108.xml New Guinness advert: Giant domino village] , "The Daily Telegraph", 13 November 2007. Retrieved 15 November 2007.]

References

External links

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOi7YPvv97w "Swimblack"] on YouTube.
* [http://www.framestore.com/#/Commercials%20London/Guinness,Surfer "Surfer"] on the Framestore CFC website.
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQ5s6PLB44U "Bet on black"] on YouTube.
* [http://www.framestore.com/#/Commercials%20London/Guinness,Dreamer "Dreamer"] on the Framestore CFC website.
* [http://www.guinness.com/gb_en/ads/current/evolution/evolution_TVadvert/ "noitulovE"] on the Guinness website.
* [http://www.guinness.com/gb_en/ads/current/fridgepub/fridgepub_TVadvert/ "Fridge"] on the Guinness website.
* [http://www.guinness.com/gb_en/ads/current/hands/advert/hands.htm "Hands"] on the Guinness website.
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JinnnukLCbM "Tipping Point"] on YouTube