''Surfer'' is an integrated advertising campaign launched in 1999 by

Diageo Diageo plc ( ) is a British Multinational corporation, multinational alcoholic beverage company, with its headquarters in London, England. It is a major distributor of Scotch whisky and other spirits and operates from 132 sites around the world ...

to promote

Guinness Guinness () is a stout that originated in the brewery of Arthur Guinness at Guinness Brewery, St. James's Gate, Dublin, Ireland, in the 18th century. It is now owned by the British-based Multinational corporation, multinational alcoholic bever ...

-brand draught

stout Stout is a type of dark beer that is generally warm fermented, such as dry stout, oatmeal stout, milk stout and imperial stout. Stout is a type of ale. The first known use of the word "stout" for beer is in a document dated 1677 in the E ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. The cornerstone of the campaign is a television commercial, originally 60 seconds long, which centred on a

Polynesia Polynesia ( , ) is a subregion of Oceania, made up of more than 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are called Polynesians. They have many things in ...

n surfer successfully taking on a gigantic wave. Shot in

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

over a nine-day period and directed by

Jonathan Glazer Jonathan Glazer (born 26 March 1965) is an English filmmaker. He began his career in theatre before transitioning into film, directing the features '' Sexy Beast'' (2000), ''Birth'' (2004), '' Under the Skin'' (2013), and '' The Zone of Inter ...

, the piece went on to win more awards than any other commercial in 1999 (

Clio Awards The Clio Awards, also simply known as The Clios, is an annual award program that recognizes innovation and creative excellence in advertising, design, and communication, as judged by an international panel of advertising professionals. The award ...

D&AD Awards Design and Art Direction (D&AD), formerly known as British Design and Art Direction, is a British educational organisation that was created in 1962 to promote excellence in design and advertising. Its main offices are in Spitalfields in London. ...

Cannes Lions The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity (formerly the International Advertising Festival) is a global event for those working in creative communications, advertising, and related fields. It is considered the largest gathering of the ...

), and in 2000 was voted the "Best ad of all time" in a poll conducted by

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

and ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...

''. 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. The advert was inspired by

Walter Crane Walter Crane (15 August 184514 March 1915) was an English artist and book illustrator. He is considered to be the most influential, and among the most prolific, children's book creators of his generation and, along with Randolph Caldecott and Ka ...

's 1893 painting "Neptune's Horses". The text also draws inspiration from

Herman Melville Herman Melville (Name change, born Melvill; August 1, 1819 – September 28, 1891) was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance (literature), American Renaissance period. Among his best-known works ar ...

's novel ''

Moby Dick ''Moby-Dick; or, The Whale'' is an 1851 Epic (genre), epic novel by American writer Herman Melville. The book is centered on the sailor Ishmael (Moby-Dick), Ishmael's narrative of the maniacal quest of Captain Ahab, Ahab, captain of the whaler ...

'', including the line "Ahab says, 'I don't care who you are, here's to your dream.'" (which does not actually appear in the novel). The music track in the advert was created by British band

Leftfield Leftfield are a British electronic music group formed in London in 1989, a duo of Neil Barnes and Paul Daley (the latter formerly of The Rivals and A Man Called Adam). The duo was influential in the evolution of electronic music in the 1990s ...

and eventually this formed the basis of their track "

Phat Planet "Phat Planet" is a song by the English electronic group Leftfield, taken from their album ''Rhythm and Stealth'', released in 1999. It is built on an insistent, two-note bassline, and the heavily distorted vocal of "Phat Planet", spoken by Neil Ba ...

" which appears on their 1999 album ''

Rhythm and Stealth ''Rhythm and Stealth'' is the second studio album by the English electronic group Leftfield, released on 20 September 1999. It reached number 1 on the UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised nationa ...

''. Its use in the advertisement led to the song appearing on several

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one Performing arts#Performers, performer or by several performers. If the recordings are from ...

s of music from advertisements including ''Classic Ads'' (2002), ''I Love TV Ads'' (2004) and ''Guinness 250: Music from the TV Ads'' (2009). An extended 90-second version is available on the 2005 DVD '' The Work of Director Jonathan Glazer''. In November 2009, ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' named the advertisement, alongside several other advertisements in the campaign, amongst the "greatest advertising of all time".

Accolades

The asterisk (*) denotes an unordered list.

Additional credits

*Account Executive: Gavin Thompson *Creative Director: David Abbott *Copywriter: Tom Carty *Art Director: Walter Campbell *Directors of Photography: Ivan Bird,

Don King Donald King (born August 20, 1931) is an American boxing promoter, known for his involvement in several historic boxing matchups. King's career highlights include, among multiple other enterprises, promoting "The Rumble in the Jungle" and the ...

(water), Lee Allison (aerial) *Production Designer: Ben Myhill *Editor: Sam Sneade, Sam Sneade Editing, London *Sound Design Wave Studios, London *Sound Designer: Johnnie Burnbr>
*Music Production Company: Soundtree Music Limited (www.soundtreemusic.com) *Music Supervisor: Peter Raeburn *VFX: Framestore, The Computer Film Company, London *VFX Designers: Dan Glass / Adrian de Wet / Paddy Eason / Tom Debenham *VFX Artists: Gavin Toomey / Alex Payman / Joe Pavlo *VFX 3D Supervisor: Dominic Parker

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Surfer (Advertisement) Guinness advertising British television commercials 1999 in British television 1999 works Horses in film and television Surfing mass media Films directed by Jonathan Glazer