As a Creative here in London, this is one of the worst ads on TV at the moment / this year / this decade. A right howler.

I don't get it one bit. How does an agency convince a client to do that?

'Bring It To Life'...Well they failed to do it to the script obviously. That is bad on a grand scale.

As an experienced Creative here in Australia, I am insufficiently evolved to have a clue what the fuck this ad is about.

What the fuck is that supposed to mean?
Smells like planner bullshit.

The Pint looks great at the end.

Northing else.

Olives

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30Axz1XahuU&feature=related

behind scenes

With Guiness, you can bring things to life - ie parties.

Fucking brilliant. I could do the same with Alcopops.

Spent a lot of money on it tho...

homer's mr plow ad.
beautiful, though.

The tone of this fits the Guiness brand nicely but overall it feels like a bit of let down. The trees going up and shit is cool....but when you see the blokes passing stuff along to each other tossed together generic scenic shots it feels like all involved have run out of ideas.

4.23 explaining an ad to a bunch of advertising people, is like explaining a joke to a comedian. If it needs to be explained, it probably doesn't make sense.

I'm not sure anyone can blame the planner for this, apart from the fact that s/he should have kicked up a huge fuss about the fact that this ad is completely and utterly devoid of any compelling, engaging or differentiating idea.
Smells like over-active art director to me.

Well I never.

With its history of brilliant advertising that goes back to the 1930s, Guinness finally loses the plot.

that wasn't worth the wait

@7:38

I'm an Art Director and i have no idea what the fcking ad is on about or how it relates to the product. Isn't the Guinness message meant to be "worth the wait"? Congratulations AMV BBDO, you spent a lot of the clients money, Bravo.

Expensive poo poo.

Things can only go south when you forsake possibly one of the best strategic lines in ad history.

9:50.

Please explain?

All this misses the point that Guiness quite simply tastes fucking terrible. They've got declining market share because there are better beers to drink. The old adage you can't polish a shit is still true.

I have a case in point – Steinlager Pure. Saatchis did lots of fantastic advertising in the 90's for Steinlager, but the product was awful, only diehard fans drank it.

However when Steinlager finally produced a great product – Pure – all they had to do was an upfront campaign that unlocked that hidden mind share built up over the past 20 years and voila, booming sales for a premium product which gobbled up the market. Finally Lion got some return on that long though dead adspend.

So the wonks at guiness should be working up a new guinessy product, that tastes great, won't make you fat and is a hit with both genders – they'll be back in business.

Brilliant, 10:00. Guiness iSnack 2.0.

Guinness Shandy or iGuiness 2.0

They should stick to making by products for Vegemite.

Terrible- I blame the client for pushing the agency to move away from Good things come to those who wait. Just because your pint has pretty bubbles does not make it alive. Dreadful.

They can call it iStout 2.0.

I like Guiness. And I like the strategy. When you pour one, it does come to life in the way the full glass cloudiness gives way to a thick, creamy head. As I see it, that's the essence of their longstanding, 'Everything comes to those who wait,' positioning. The issue to me is the execution lacks focus. It's lots of different visuals - some of which are quite interesting - but the spot ultimately lacks a clear, coherent focus. It's almost as if doing something epic and a little weird won out over something that was sharp and made sense.

Pint of wank and a packet of cash please.

11:51, they all seem to be working pretty hard for something they are meant to be waiting for.

BBDOOM!

12:21 PM

Metaphors are like that sometimes.

I think it's shot nicely and wouldn't shy away from having it on my reel. Lets be honest, there aren't too many other commercials that are this 'epic' out there, so I don't want to sound like a stereotypical whinging backstabbing pom.

I find this ad immensely watchable, but, I feel, as a Guiness drinker, it fails on one point for me.

Where's the laconic, Irish, take the piss out of yourself humour?

Feels very British to me - Guinness is responsible for all life on Earth, without it the planet would be a pile of rocks.

Far too British, far too serious, and far too up it's own arse.

2 stars.

Boring.

I like drinking Guinness in winter.

And I like the fact that their TVC's make me feel like an upmarket tosser for drinking the stuff.

I took out of this the simple premise that when you pour a pint of Guinness, you're effectively creating something great, something that evolves in the glass. Hence the blokes playing God and creating the world.

Not a patch on some of the classic Guinness work, but I'm not so fussed if not too many people get the point of this. You reckon anyone understood what the fuck the surfing horses was all about when it aired?

I prefer how Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy did it.

12:56 I agree entirely with you - the strategy is solid. But rather than play god, surely you could create something smaller yet equally as great - and possibly believable, with a bit of warmth and believability?

Epic spot tho.

man this has been slammed. i actually liked it.

So the general consensus seems to be that it's about creating something alive.

What crap.

You don't 'create' a pint of Guinness. You order it and hand over the cash. You then wait a minute or two, the glorious anticipation before drinking it being the strategic basis for 'Good things come to those who wait'.

The idea that Guinness is alive is somewhat interesting territory. I just think they got a bit lost when they forced the drinker into the idea.

Well... better than anything I've done.

And I'd say that goes for 99.99% of the people here.

Think the whingers seem to be mostly British.