Guinness "Tipping Point"

Last night, Guinness launched the most expensive TV ad in its 80-year marketing history with the help of AMV BBDO.

 

"Tipping Point", a £10m spot, is a follow up in the 'Good Things Come to Those Who Wait' campaign, which will air in 30-, 60-, an 90-second spots. Directed by Nicolai Fugslig (director of Sony's "Balls" spot), the ad begins with 6,000 dominoes, leading on to objects such as books, paint cans, flaming hay bales, and cars.

Mr. Fugslig said the combination of the intricacy of the shoot, the high altitude location in Argentina and the use of hundreds of villagers made filming the ad the "biggest challenge" of his career to date. "The ad is fundamentally a celebration of community," said Paul Cornell, the marketing manager for Guinness at Diageo GB.

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Plywood's picture

How on earth did this Ode to Cog spot cost 10,000,000 pounds?Actors = 50$ US buyout x 1000Props = junk Location fees = pretty much non-existentShoot days = 4? 5? 6?What did they spend all the money on? Certainly not on an original idea, thassfersure. It's executionally fresh, but not idea fresh.

caffeinegoddess's picture

Director's fee?

hlebarov's picture

You better move this in "Dupliclaims" section of Badland together with The Cog of Honda and Der Lauf der Dinge - von P.Fischli und D.Weiss 1987.

kurtberengeiger's picture

I have to agree, £10m sounds like more became a lot less.

Dabitch's picture

It's executionally fresh, but not idea fresh.

Don't know about that, the execution I mean - right now when I turn on my TV I can count three different countries brands doing the domino-fall-down thing, so that idea is pretty much as old as it gets, true. Hell, I've even wanted to do it - I was watching the domino day in the Netherlands many years ago (like 98) dearly wishing for a client for whom I could use a domino idea. And when I was a kid I'd spend weeks setting up dominos all over my room, I love that shit. Who doesn't?

Executionally, it looks and feels a lot like the snail race village - again a story about community and "good things come to those who wait". Maybe even a bit of swimmer who races the pint as well. It's all crazy village/community get together to do something that takes time, and presto = party. Plus the whole look of it all. These are not my favorite Guinness ads, I'm much more partial to the surreal dream club and surfer. So I find the execution more of a nod to those that came before it, with the extra oompf of doing something clearly not posted (unlike the speed racing snails). That being said, it's not a bad ad but I can't understand why it would cost as much a full length film, and why someone thought this would be a good PR-angle. I love both Guinness and their ads always, but this price-tag will make me choose Murphy's for a while now. But like Murphy's, I'm not bitter. ;)

Now, I'm not of the conviction that every domino game ever should be compared to Der Lauf Der Dinge, which is more of a Rube Goldberg type of chain reaction rather than a 'simple' dominos. Maybe it's because my youth was spent playing mousetrap and dominos, so I never saw those ideas as original on their own - it depends on what you do (or how you do it) in the end. I totally see what the swiss artists saw as 'theirs' in Cog though, the setting and look of cog looked quite inspired from the Der Lauf... film. They lost their case though didn't they? I bet they wish they we're Belgians now - that seems to be the only country where anyone ever wins a copyright/copycat case.

Dabitch's picture

hlebarov - we should do an honorable mention in Badland though if we get the others as well, there's this one, cog, the current Claes Ohlsson campaign in Sweden.. and which countries telly was I watching when there was a domino-reaction with Milkcartons - was it German? I'm positive there is another one running right now which makes it even funnier. Those guys who did the (comparativly) low budgets ones are probably all kicking themselves when Guiness gets the press. hehehe...

purplesimon's picture

While visiting another website I saw a banner advertising the treasure hunt for this campaign. I saw something I hadn't noticed before...

Is it just me or does the man fronting the website for this campaign look a little like a certain (dead) despot from the Middle East?

Anonymous Adgrunt's picture

This was mesmerizing but that price tag is just sad.