''Surfer'' is an integrated advertising campaign launched in 1999 by Diageo to promote Guinness-brand draught stout 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 Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, 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 () "many" and νῆσος () "island"), to, Polinisia; mi, Porinihia; haw, Polenekia; fj, Polinisia; sm, Polenisia; rar, Porinetia; ty, Pōrīnetia; tvl, Polenisia; tkl, Polenihia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, made up of ...

n surfer successfully taking on a gigantic wave. Shot in

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...

over a nine-day period and directed by

Jonathan Glazer Jonathan Glazer (born 26 March 1965) is an English film director and screenwriter. Born in London, Glazer began his career in theatre before transitioning into film. Over the course of a career spanning nearly three decades, Glazer's directing ...

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

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. I ...

, Cannes Lions), and in 2002 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 network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

and ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British 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 News UK, w ...

''. 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 ( born Melvill; August 1, 1819 – September 28, 1891) was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance period. Among his best-known works are ''Moby-Dick'' (1851); ''Typee'' (1846), a rom ...

's novel ''

Moby Dick ''Moby-Dick; or, The Whale'' is an 1851 novel by American writer Herman Melville. The book is the sailor Ishmael's narrative of the obsessive quest of Ahab, captain of the whaling ship ''Pequod'', for revenge against Moby Dick, the giant whi ...

'', 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 duo formed in 1989 as the duo of Neil Barnes and Paul Daley (the latter formerly of the Rivals and A Man Called Adam). The duo was very influential in the evolution of electronic music in the 1990s, wi ...

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 ...

" which appears on their 1999 album '' Rhythm and Stealth''. Its use in the advertisement led to the song appearing on several compilation albums 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 publish ...

'' 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. He has been a controversial figure, partly due to a manslaughter conviction and civil cases against him, as well a ...

(water), Lee Allison (aerial) *Production Designer: Ben Myhill *Editor: Sam Sneade, Sam Sneade Editing, London *Sound Design Wave Studios, London *Sound Designer: Johnnie Bur

*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