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noitulovE

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noitulovE
A frame from noitulovE
AgencyAbbott Mead Vickers BBDO
ClientDiageo
LanguageEnglish
Running time60 seconds
Product
Release date(s)3 October 2005 (Television)
Directed byDaniel Kleinman
Music byPeter Raeburn
Production
company		Kleinman Productions
Produced byJohnnie Frankel
Country United Kingdom
Budget£1.3M (advert)
£15M (campaign)
Preceded byMustang
Followed byFridge
Official websitehttps://www.guinness.com/

noitulovE[1] is an award-winning British television and cinema advert launched by Diageo in 2005 to promote Guinness-brand draught stout. The sixty-second piece formed the cornerstone of a £15M advertising campaign targeting the 24-35-year-old male demographic.[2][3] The commercial was handled by the advertising agency Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO, who were given a budget of £1.3M. It was directed by Daniel Kleinman, produced by Kleinman Productions, and post production was contracted out to Framestore CFC. The spot premiered on British television on 3 October 2005.

The advert, together with its associated campaign, was a critical and financial success. It received over thirty awards from professional organisations in the advertising and television industries, and was the most-awarded commercial worldwide in 2006.[4] The impact of the campaign was such that during a period in which the UK beer market experienced a substantial decline in revenue, Guinness reported that its year-on-year earnings within the region had noticeably increased. At the same time, Guinness achieved its highest ever volume and value shares[5] and became the market leader within the region. This was attributed in no small part to the positive reception garnered by noitulovE.

Sequence

The piece begins with a shot of three patrons taking their first sip of Guinness stout in a London pub. To the accompaniment of Sammy Davis Jr.'s rendition of "The Rhythm of Life" from the soundtrack to the 1966 Broadway musical Sweet Charity, the three men walk backwards out of the pub, the other patrons disappearing as they pass. As they move down the street, a reverse time-lapse-style sequence transforms their clothes to match a rapidly-changing urban scene, which progresses through modern-day London to the Edwardian period. Electric lights transform into gas lamps and buildings begin to disappear frame-by-frame. A short cutaway sequence shows the city regressing further into the past, shrinking to a small Saxon settlement before disappearing entirely. Returning to the main sequence, the three men's clothes and hairstyles are adjusted into Bronze Age equivalents as they pass through thickening woodland. A close-up on one of the characters reveals that his features are being quickly transfigured into those of a caveman. The trio are then frozen in a fast-moving ice age glacier.

When the glacier thaws, the three re-emerge as Neanderthals, their clothes ripped away to reveal loincloths. They continue to walk backwards with a more simian gait, and soon "de-evolve" into apes. From there, the trio are transformed into a number of different species in quick succession, including flying squirrels, furry mammals, aquatic mammals, fish, flightless birds, tiny dinosaurs, and burrowing lizard-like creatures. The environment around them changes rapidly as they travel, with cutaways showing millions of years of geological changes occurring in less than a few seconds. Finally, the three become mudskippers around a green-brown puddle. The last shot of the sequence is a close-up on the centre individual, as he registers his disgust at the taste of the water with a "Pweugh!" sound. The commercial ends with a transition to a product shot of three pints of Guinness accompanied by the strapline "Good things come to those who wait".[6][7]

Production

Fifteen new CGI characters were created during post-production for the commercial

Background

Main article: Good things come to those who wait

Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO won the account for Guinness in 1996 with a campaign centred around their new strapline "Good things come to those who wait", and produced several commercials using variations on the theme, including Swimblack, Bet on Black, and the critically-acclaimed Surfer, which was voted the "Best Advert of All Time" by the British public in 2002.[8] However, after the 2001 Dream Club campaign, Diageo, who owned the Guinness brand, decided to pursue more pan-European advertisements.[3] The strapline proved difficult to translate, and two separate concepts were tried out over the next three years: "Believe" (used in the Free In and Tom Crean campaigns) and "A story of darkness and light" (used in the Moth and Mustang campaigns).

Worldwide campaigns had not been particularly successful, and in 2004, Diageo returned to regional advertising.[3] AMV BBDO were presented with the choice of coming up with either a new concept to appeal to the 18-35 British male demographic, or a new angle on the tried and tested "Good things..." idea. It was decided to return to their previously-successful theme. A number of ideas were discussed internally, and the one receiving the most follow-up was that of "The Longest Wait".[3] From this basic idea, noitulovE was quickly plotted out: the advert would show three individuals waiting 500,000,000 years before finally taking their first sip of Guinness – the timeline compressed into a 50 second clip. The decision to run the "Evolution sequence" in reverse was taken fairly early, as it was felt that it would better hold viewers' interest during a sixty-second television spot.[3][6]

Pre-production

The project had not yet been greenlit when the agency approached Daniel Kleinman, known for his work on James Bond title sequences, with the intention of taking him on as a director. After looking over the concept pitch and a rough draft of the script, Kleinmann's immediate impressions were that the idea was "fresh", "an opportunity to try out some new techniques", and that it would "put Guinness back on track, doing a big 'wow' idea".[9]

Kleinman contacted a pair of Canadian graphic novel artists to begin storyboarding the commercial to allow the agency to determine how much of the £1.3m budget to allocate to each section, and to use as part of the presentation to Diageo pitching the various concepts for a decision on which to pursue. The effort paid off, and approval was given to move ahead with production of noitulovE.

Production

Production of the commercial took place over two months, with principal photography being shot in Iceland. Time-lapse photographs were taken of the country's mud pools, volcanic terrain and frozen lakes using 35 mm film cameras. The shooting took place in the early summer for the nearly continuous daylight that the season afforded them.[3] The next pieces assembled were the live-action segments, which were shot in a greenscreen studio in London. The filming took place in three stages, with the three actors changing into different sets of prosthetic makeup at each stage. For the final section, the actors spent a week practising the choreography behind walking backwards with an appropriately simian gait. Wires were attached to the back of each actor, allowing them to lean forwards to give the impression that they were being "sucked back in time" when the final cut was put together.[10] While filming the actor sequences, VFX supervisor William Bartlett discovered and filmed the aerial view of London from Tower 42's Vertigo bar.[6]

Feeling that with computer-generated imagery looking to make up so much of the commercial, Kleinman attempted to use film of real elements wherever possible. To this end, two hundred mudskippers were procured from South Africa for the final scene, arriving via Singapore. An entire afternoon was set aside for filming the sequence, and the footage obtained formed the major part of the final cut of the scene, with the only post-production changes being the addition of tail fins and animation of the expression of disgust which closes the piece.[3][6] Stop motion footage of other real elements was taken, including a stage-by-stage blowtorching of plants, used to show flora coming back to life in the reverse sequence, and shots of baking bread used to model the geological changes to background rock formations.[11] Other real elements used in the final commercial include pieces of stock footage of many species of animal, though only short segments of apes and lizards appeared in the final cut.[10]

Post-production

Post-production work was handled in the most part by Framestore CFC, who had worked on previous Guinness campaigns Surfer[12] and Dreamer,[13] and had worked with Daniel Kleinman on a number of outside projects, including a number of commercials and James Bond title sequences. The project was overseen by William Bartlett, known for his VFX work on the BBC television documentary Walking with Dinosaurs. Three and a half months were assigned to the post-production stage, with airing of the commercial to occur shortly afterwards.[3]

The 24-man animation team was split into two groups, half working in Maya on the fifteen new CGI creatures populating the piece, the other half creating the backgrounds using Houdini. Compositing the green screen shots with stock footage and CGI elements was performed in Flame and Inferno. Work was done at a resolution higher than afforded by PAL encoding to improve the appearance of the advert on cinema screens.[14][3]

Near the end of post-production, the creative team decided that the music to which the advert had been set to until that point, an electronic track by Groove Armada, was not working particularly well. Peter Rayburn, who had chosen Leftfield's track "Phat Planet" used on Surfer, was brought on as music director. "Rhythm of Life" was one of three pieces suggested by Rayburn, and was successfully presented to Guinness as an alternative to the Groove Armada track.[3]

Release and reception

Schedule

noitulovE was originally to have begun its run in September 2005, but the airdate was pushed back several weeks as post-production had taken longer than anticipated.[3] As had been the case with several earlier campaigns, the commercial was to air in several bursts, which would air throughout 2005 and 2006. Spots were purchased in the commercial breaks of sports broadcasts, high-budget television dramas and shows whose primary audience overlapped with the campaign's target demographic of 24-35-year-old British males. The first burst was commissioned to run from October 3 to November 13 2005, during programming such as the Champion's League, Lost, Vincent, Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway and terrestrial television screenings of Austin Powers: Goldmember.[5]

The second burst lasted through December, with the focus moved to multichannel television, with appearances in live televised football matches, films, and popular programming such as I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!. Two further bursts were commissioned for 2006, to run from May 15 to June 9 and August 22 to October 8. Programmes selected for the May–June burst included Celebrity X Factor, Big Brother and live football and cricket matches. The final series of spots ran during programming totalling 56 ratings points per week (56% of British television viewers), with much of the schedule assigned to multichannel television.[5]

Awards

List of awards
2006 Art Directors Club Awards[15]
  • Silver - Special Effects
  • Distinctive Merit - Cinema-Over 30 Seconds
  • Distinctive Merit - TV-Over 30 Seconds
  • Distinctive Merit - Editing
  • Distinctive Merit - Art Direction
  • Distinctive Merit - Music & Sound Design
2006 Australian Effects and Animation Festival[16][17]
  • Winner - Best Commercial
2006 British Television Advertising Awards[5]
  • Gold - Alcoholic Drinks
  • Silver - Best Over 60 Seconds
  • Silver - Commercials Shown in Cinema and on TV
2006 BTAA Craft awards[18]
  • Winner - Best Crafted Commercial of the Year
  • Winner - Best Direction (Daniel Kleinman)
  • Finalist - Best Computer Animation
  • Finalist - Best Use of Recorded Music
  • Finalist - Best Video Post Production
2006 Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival[19]
  • Winner - Grand Prix (Film)
2006 Clio Awards[20][16]
  • Gold - TV/Beverages Alcoholic
  • Gold - TV/Direction
  • Silver - Visual Effects
2006 Cresta Awards[21]
  • Winner- Grand Prix (Television)
2006 D&AD Global Awards[16][22]
  • Yellow Pencil for Special Effects in the TV and Cinema Crafts
2005 Epica Awards[11]
  • Winner - Epica D'Or (films)
2006 Eurobest Awards[21]
  • Gold - Alcoholic Drinks
2006 Golden Award of Montreux[21]
  • Winner - Gold Award (Best in show)
  • Gold - Beverages (Alcoholic)
  • Gold - Humour
2006 Gunn Report[4]
  • Winner - Most Awarded Commercial in the World
2006 IAPI Shark Advertising Awards [23]
  • Gold - Alcoholic Drinks: Beer
  • Gold - Best Post Production/Special Effects
2006 Imagina Awards[16][17]
  • Winner - Special Jury Prize
2006 International ANDY Awards[24]
  • Winner - Best in Show (GRANDY)
2006 International Food And Beverage Creative Awards [25][26]
  • Winner - Alcoholic Drinks (Television)
  • Winner - Television (Overall)
2006 London International Awards[27]
  • Winner - Beverages - Alcoholic (Television/Cinema)
  • Winner - Special Effects (Television/Cinema)
  • Winner (Disqualified)[28] - Original Music with Lyrics
  • Finalist - Animation, Computer
  • Finalist - Editing
  • Finalist - Humour
2006 Midsummer Awards [29]
  • Gold - Alcoholic Drinks
  • Gold - Best Animation
  • Gold - Best Post Production
  • Silver - Best Use of Music
2006 The One Show Awards[30]
  • Gold - Consumer Television
2006 VES Awards[31]
  • Winner - Outstanding Visual Effects in a Commercial

noitulovE was well-received by critics within the advertising and television industries, and was pipped to win the 2006 Cannes Lions Film Grand Prix. Advertising Age said of the piece: "A flawless DGI production to an irresistible piece of music propelling a brilliant, astonishingly witty new iteration of a longstanding, unique positioning. This isn't just great advertising; it is perfect advertising."[32] Gastón Bigio, Executive Creative Director for Del Campo Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi remarked on the campaign in the run-up to the festival, saying "noitulovE is, in my opinion, the best. [...] This execution is absolutely incredible, as is the production."[33][19] The main competition for the prize was thought to be the Australian Big Ad for Carlton draught beer, and the British Balls, for Sony's BRAVIA line of high definition television sets. After the three received Gold Lions in the Film category, they were shortlisted by the judges as contenders for the Grand Prix. Ultimately, the honour went to noitulovE. After the decision, David Droga, president of the jury which determined the outcome, said of noitulovE: "It's a very very strong ad. A lot of the jurors felt that it was not only a stand-alone, remarkable ad, but also a triumphant return for a fabulous campaign."[34] The victory placed director Daniel Kleinman at Number 27 in The Independent's list of the Top 50 Newsmakers of 2006.[35]

Cannes was not the only awards ceremony to recognise noitulovE. When the 2006 edition of the Gunn Report, an authoritative annual publication determining the advertising industry's most critically successful campaigns, was published, it revealed that noitulovE had received more awards that year than any other campaign worldwide.[4] Among the awards presented to the team behind the commercial were three Clios, two Golden Sharks, and the Special Jury Prize at the Imagina Awards.

The ad was also a hit with the public. It has been credited by Guinness as being responsible for the substantial boost in sales experienced by the brand during the period in which it was broadcast. While revenues within the UK beer market declined by an average of -0.4% (-£19M), the year-on-year figures for Guinness showed an increase of 3.6% (+£13.3M).[5] Between October 2005 and October 2006, Guinness achieved its highest ever volume (6.8%) and value (7.4%) shares,[5] taking the position of market leader from Stella Artois. Diageo attributed the growth in no small part to the positive reception garnered by noitulovE.[36]

Legacy

As one of the most recognisable television advertisements of 2006, noitulovE was chosen to be one of two commercials (the other being Sony's Balls) to feature in a £200M campaign launched by Digital UK to raise awareness of the imminent switchover within the UK from analogue to digital television.[37] The new versions of the two adverts would show the first few seconds of the original spot before being interrupted by "Digit Al", an animated spokesman for the campaign.

In 2006, Guinness launched a retrospective television advertising campaign promoting Guinness Extra Cold stout, featuring new ten-second versions of British Guinness commercials broadcast between 1986 and 2006, including The Man With the Guinness (with Rutger Hauer reprising his earlier role), Anticipation, Fish Bicycle, Surfer, Bet on Black, and noitulovE. Of the chosen commercials, noitulovE was the only one to receive more than one new version. In the first, the patrons are encased only seconds after taking their first sip of Guinness in a glacier identical to the one which appeared half-way through the original spot. In the second, the sea through which the three fish bound backwards in the original spot is frozen while the trio are in mid-leap, leaving the characters skidding across the surface. In the final version, the primeval pool at the end of the original spot freezes while the mudskippers are taking their drink, and the protagonists' tongues are left stuck in the ice.[38]

When noitulovE was first proposed, it was the only pitch revisiting the Good things come to those who wait campaign, as the creative team felt that topping the original series would be too hard a task.[3] However, following the success of noitulovE, it was felt that producing new takes on the theme was workable. Since the end of noitulovE's original run, three additional commercials have been aired within the Good Things... campaign: Fridge, Hands, and Tipping Point (Guinness' most expensive advertising campaign to date).[39]

References

  1. ^ Occasionally, and erroneously, referred to as Evolution.
  2. ^ Wilson, Giles; A step back in time, BBC News, 7 October 2005. Retrieved October 22 2007
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Archer, Katy; The Art of Advertising (interview with Matt Doman and Ian Heartfield), Channel 4, 16 January 2006. Retrieved October 21 2007.
  4. ^ a b c Gunn, D; Wilkie, E; The Gunn Report and Showreel of the Year (8th edition), FlaxmanWilkie, 30 November 2006. ISBN 978-0955164613
  5. ^ a b c d e f Thinkbox, Guinness case study, January 15 2007. Retrieved 20 October 2007.
  6. ^ a b c d Framestore CFC (press release) "500,000,000 years in 50 seconds flat", 4 October 2005. Retrieved October 20 2007.
  7. ^ Kleinman, D (2005); noitulovE, Kleinmann Productions.
  8. ^ 100 Greatest Ads of All Time, Channel 4, June 14 2002. URL last accessed January 8 2008.
  9. ^ Making of noitulovE", Guinness website. Retrieved 20 October 2007.
  10. ^ a b Seymour, M; Making of noitulovE (interview with William Bartlett) video podcast, FXGuide. Retrieved October 22 2007.
  11. ^ a b Worth the Wait, Lewis Blackwell, Epica Awards. Retrieved October 21 2007.
  12. ^ Guinness 'Surfer', Framestore CFC. Retrieved 19 November 2007.
  13. ^ Making the fur fly for Guinness, Framestore CFC. Retrieved 19 November 2007.
  14. ^ Seymour, M; Doing Effects Backwards, FXGuide, December 8 2005. Retrieved November 19 2007.
  15. ^ ADC Announces Winners of 85th Annual Awards, Art Directors Club (press release), April 17 2006. Retrieved October 21 2007.
  16. ^ a b c d June 2006 News, Framestore CFC website, 25 June 2006. Retrieved October 21 2006.
  17. ^ a b Imagina that!, UK Screen Association News, 4 February 2006. Retrieved October 21 2007.
  18. ^ 2006 Craft Award Winners, BTAA. Retrieved October 21 2007.
  19. ^ a b Guinness ad tops in Cannes, Chicago Sun-Times, June 27 2006. Retrieved October 21 2007.
  20. ^ Clio Awards Winners 2006, Clio Awards (press release), 16 May 2006. Retrieved 21 October 2007.
  21. ^ a b c noitulovE detail summary, AdForum.com. Retrieved November 21 2007.
  22. ^ 2006 Awards Entry, D&AD Global Awards. Retrieved October 21 2007.
  23. ^ Winners list 2006, Shark Awards. Retrieved October 21 2007.
  24. ^ 2006 GRANDY $50,000 Winner, International ANDY Awards, 25 March 2006. Retrieved November 20 2007.
  25. ^ List of FAB Award Winners 2006, International Food And Beverage Creative Awards. Retrieved October 21, 2007.
  26. ^ The work associated with the campaign also contributed to the nomination for the Agency of the Year award received by AMV BBDO.
  27. ^ 2006 Winners, LIAAwards. Retrieved October 21 2007.
  28. ^ "Originally awarded to Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO, London for Draught Guinness - "noitulovE". However, it has since been brought to our attention that this music did not meet the requirements for this category which state "Music with sung or spoken lyrics that was specifically created for the entered commercial. The “song” must be a new piece that has not existed in any form before"—London International Awards Authority ([1]).
  29. ^ List of Midsummer Awards Winners 2006, Midsummer Awards, July 14 2006. Retrieved October 21 2007.
  30. ^ Winners 2006, One Club / One Show. Retrieved October 21 2007.
  31. ^ Framestore CFC Teams Scoop Two Top VES Awards, UK Screen Association News, 16 February 2006. Retrieved October 21 2007.
  32. ^ Garfield, B; Bob Garfield's Pick for Cannes Film Grand Prix: Guinness, Advertising Age, 18 June 2006. Retrieved November 22 2007
  33. ^ Fera, R A; Evolved opinions, Boards, Brunico Communications Ltd. July 1 2006. Retrieved October 20 2007.
  34. ^ Diaz, A C; Guinness 'Noitulove' Wins Cannes Film Grand Prix, Advertising Age, June 24 2006. Retrieved November 21 2007.
  35. ^ The Top 50 Newsmakers of 2006, The Independent, December 18 2006. Retrieved November 21 2007.
  36. ^ "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. ([2])
  37. ^ Debut for £200m switchover awareness ads, DTG News, Lovelace Consulting, May 5 2006. Retrieved January 11 2008.
  38. ^ noitulovE Extra Cold compilation (2006), Guinness. Retrieved November 21 2007.
  39. ^ Sweeney, M; Guinness ad topples record, The Guardian, November 8 2007. Retrieved November 21 2007.


Preceded by Cannes Lions Film Grand Prix Winner
2006 		Succeeded by


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