noitulovE

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

noitulovE
Fridge
Official websitehttp://www.guinness.com/

noitulovE ("

British television
on 3 October 2005.

noitulovE is the fifth television/cinema piece in the

market leader
within the region. This was attributed in no small part to the positive reception of noitulovE.

Sequence

Three patrons take their first sip of Guinness in a London pub. "The Rhythm of Life" as performed by

Anglo-Saxon settlement, before disappearing entirely. Returning to the main sequence, the three men's clothes and hairstyles change into Bronze Age equivalents as they pass through thickening woodland. A close-up of one of the characters shows his features have transformed into those of a Neanderthal. The three men are then frozen in an ice age glacier
.

They re-emerge from the glacier as primitive hominids, their clothes ripped away to reveal

strapline "Good things come to those who wait."[3]

Production

Background

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

Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO won the account for Guinness in 1996 with a campaign built on their new strapline "

Mustang
).

The new marketing strategy did not prove particularly successful, and in 2004 Diageo returned to regional advertising.[1] AMV BBDO were presented with the choice of coming up with either a new theme to appeal to the 18–35 British male demographic or a new angle on the tried and tested Good things... concept. A number of ideas were put forward, including "The Longest Wait".[1] From this concept, 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 60-second television spot.[1][3]

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, Kleinman'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".[5]

Kleinman contacted a pair of Canadian graphic novel artists to begin the storyboarding process. Storyboarding the commercial meant that the agency could determine how much of the £1.3M budget to allocate to each section, and provided them with visuals to use as part of the presentation to Diageo when pitching the various concepts for a decision on which to pursue. The effort paid off and approval was given to move ahead with production.[1]

Production

Production of the commercial took place over two months, with

greenscreen studio in London. Filming was done 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.[6] While filming the actor sequences, VFX supervisor William Bartlett filmed the aerial view of London from Tower 42's Vertigo bar.[3]

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, 200 mudskippers were brought to the studio from South Africa for the final scene, arriving via

tail fins and animation of the expression of disgust that closes the piece.[1][3] 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.[7] Additional real elements were to have been incorporated into the commercial, mostly from stock footage of several animal species, but only short segments of apes and lizards appeared in the final cut.[6]

Post-production

Post-production work was handled mostly by Framestore CFC, who had worked on previous Guinness campaigns Surfer[8] and Dreamer,[9] and had worked with Daniel Kleinman on a number of outside projects, including several commercials and James Bond title sequences. The project was overseen by William Bartlett, known for his visual effects work on the BBC television documentary Walking with Dinosaurs. The original schedule allowed for three and a half months in post-production, with airing of the commercial to follow almost immediately.[1]

The 24-man animation team was split into two groups. Half were assigned to the creation of the 15 new CGI creatures populating noitulovE (in

Inferno. As the final commercial was to be shown on cinema screens, the animators worked at a resolution higher than that afforded by the 576i definition used by British PAL-encoded television sets, to improve the appearance of the advert when projected.[1][10]

Near the end of post-production, the creative team decided that the music chosen to accompany the advert, an electronic track by Groove Armada, was not working particularly well. Peter Raeburn, who had chosen the track used in Surfer (Leftfield's "Phat Planet"), was brought on as music director. Raeburn suggested three pieces, with "Rhythm of Life" ultimately presented to Guinness as an alternative and approved as a replacement.[1]

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 took longer than anticipated.

Austin Powers: Goldmember.[11]

The second burst lasted through December. The focus moved to

ratings points per week (56% of British television viewers), with much of the budget assigned to multichannel television.[11]

Awards

noitulovE was well received by critics within the advertising and television industries, and was predicted to win the 2006

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 "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."[32] The victory placed director Daniel Kleinman at Number 29 in The Independent's list of the Top 50 Newsmakers of 2006.[33]

The 2006 edition of the Gunn Report, an authoritative annual publication determining the advertising industry's most critically successful campaigns, revealed that noitulovE had received more awards that year than any other campaign worldwide.[20] Among the awards 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).

market leader from Stella Artois. Diageo attributed the growth in no small part to the positive reception garnered by noitulovE.[34]

Legacy

As one of the most recognisable British television advertisements of 2006, noitulovE was one of two commercials (the other being Sony's Balls) to feature in a £200M campaign launched by

New versions of the two adverts were produced, showing the first few seconds of the original spot before being interrupted by "Digit Al", an animated spokesman for the campaign.

In 2004, Guinness launched a retrospective television advertising campaign promoting

Anticipation, Fish Bicycle, Surfer, and Bet on Black.[37] noitulovE joined the campaign in 2006, and was the only piece to receive more than one new version. In the first of these, the patrons are encased only seconds after taking their first sip of Guinness in a glacier identical to the one which appeared halfway 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, according to copywriter Ian Heartfield, both AMV BBDO and Diageo "didn't think [they] could do something good enough to warrant following on from Surfer and the like."

Fridge, Hands, and Tipping Point (Guinness' most expensive advertising campaign to date).[39]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Archer, Katy (16 January 2006). "The Art of Advertising". (Interview with Matt Doman and Ian Heartfield). Channel 4. Retrieved 26 January 2008.
  2. ^ Wilson, Giles (7 October 2005). "A step back in time". BBC News. Retrieved 26 January 2008.
  3. ^
    Framestore CFC. 4 October 2005. Archived from the original
    on 9 February 2008. Retrieved 26 January 2008.
  4. ^ "100 Greatest Ads of All Time". Channel 4/The Sunday Times. 14 June 2002. Retrieved 26 January 2008.
  5. ^ Kleinman, Daniel. noitulovE (Making Of). Guinness. Archived from the original (swf) on 5 December 2008. Retrieved 26 January 2008. (requires age verification)
  6. ^
    video podcast). FXGuide. Archived from the original
    (m4v) on 22 December 2006. Retrieved 26 January 2008.
  7. ^ a b Blackwell, Lewis. "Worth the Wait". Epica Awards. Archived from the original on 15 October 2007. Retrieved 26 January 2008.
  8. ^ "Guinness 'Surfer'". Framestore CFC (accessed via Internet Archive). Archived from the original on 21 January 2008. Retrieved 26 January 2008.
  9. ^ "Making the fur fly for Guinness". Framestore CFC (accessed via Internet Archive). Archived from the original on 9 February 2008. Retrieved 25 January 2008.
  10. ^ Seymour, Mike (8 December 2005). "Doing Effects Backwards". FXGuide. Archived from the original on 4 February 2008. Retrieved 26 January 2008.
  11. ^ a b c d e "Guinness case study". Thinkbox. 15 January 2007. Archived from the original on 17 October 2007. Retrieved 26 January 2008.
  12. ^ "ADC Announces Winners of 85th Annual Awards". (press release). Art Directors Club. 17 April 2006. Archived from the original on 17 October 2012. Retrieved 26 January 2008.
  13. ^ a b c d "June 2006 News". Framestore CFC (accessed via Internet Archive). 25 June 2006. Archived from the original on 18 October 2006. Retrieved 25 August 2008.
  14. ^ a b "Imagina that!". UK Screen Association News. 4 February 2006. Archived from the original on 12 February 2012. Retrieved 26 January 2008.
  15. ^ "2006 Craft Award Winners". British Television Advertising Awards. Archived from the original on 16 October 2012. Retrieved 26 January 2008.
  16. ^ a b "Guinness ad tops in Cannes". Chicago Sun-Times. 27 June 2006.
  17. ^ "Clio Awards Winners 2006". (press release). Clio Awards. 16 May 2006. Archived from the original on 12 February 2012. Retrieved 26 January 2008.
  18. ^ a b c "noitulovE detail summary". AdForum.com. Retrieved 26 January 2008.
  19. ^ "2006 Awards Entry". D&AD Global Awards. Archived from the original on 25 June 2008. Retrieved 26 January 2008.
  20. ^ .
  21. ^ "Winners list 2006" (PDF). IAPI Shark Advertising Awards. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 March 2007. Retrieved 26 January 2008.
  22. ^ "2006 GRANDY $50,000 Winner". International ANDY Awards. 25 March 2006. Archived from the original on 12 September 2012. Retrieved 26 January 2008.
  23. ^ "List of FAB Award Winners 2006" (PDF). International Food And Beverage Creative Awards. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 November 2009. Retrieved 15 August 2011.
  24. ^ The work associated with the campaign also contributed to the nomination for the Agency of the Year award received by AMV BBDO.
  25. ^ "2006 Winners". London International Awards. Archived from the original on 14 September 2007. Retrieved 26 January 2008.
  26. ^ "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. Archived 14 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  27. ^ "List of Midsummer Awards Winners 2006". Midsummer Awards. 14 July 2006. Archived from the original on 17 February 2012. Retrieved 26 January 2008.
  28. ^ "Winners 2006". One Club / One Show. Archived from the original on 14 December 2007. Retrieved 26 January 2008.
  29. ^ "Framestore CFC Teams Scoop Two Top VES Awards". UK Screen Association News. 16 February 2006. Archived from the original on 12 February 2012. Retrieved 26 January 2008.
  30. Advertising Age
    , 18 June 2006. Retrieved 22 November 2007
  31. ^ Fera, R A; Evolved opinions Archived 20 November 2008 at the Wayback Machine, Boards, Brunico Communications Ltd. 1 July 2006. Retrieved 20 October 2007.
  32. ^ Diaz, A C; Guinness 'Noitulove' Wins Cannes Film Grand Prix, Advertising Age, 24 June 2006. Retrieved 21 November 2007.
  33. ^ The Top 50 Newsmakers of 2006 Archived 1 December 2007 at the Wayback Machine, The Independent, 18 December 2006. Retrieved 21 November 2007.
  34. ^ "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 Archived 17 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine.
  35. ^ Debut for £200M switchover awareness ads Archived 9 November 2007 at the Wayback Machine, DTG News, Lovelace Consulting, 5 May 2006. Retrieved 11 January 2008.
  36. ^ "Guinness Penguins/Bullets". Rutgerhauer.org. Retrieved 26 January 2008.
  37. ^ Whitehead, Jennifer (8 June 2004). "Twist on iconic Guinness surfers in £3.5m Extra Cold ads". Brand Republic. Retrieved 26 January 2008.
  38. ^ noitulovE Extra Cold compilation. Guinness. 2006. Archived from the original (swf) on 9 January 2007. Retrieved 26 January 2008.
  39. ^ Sweeney, Mark (8 November 2007). "Guinness ad topples record". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 January 2008.

External links

Preceded by
Cannes Lions Film Grand Prix Winner

2006
Succeeded by
Evolution