From Guardian Unlimited
Posted: 4/12/01

Guinness unveils new advert

Claire Cozens
Friday April 6, 2001

A stout-drinking squirrel and a giant curtain that reveals the meaning of life are the bizarre ingredients of the long-awaited follow-up to the Guinness "Surfer" commercial.

Surfer, in which a fanatical surfer crashes towards the shore on waves of white horses, was voted the best TV advert of all time in a national survey by the Sunday Times and Channel 4 last year.

The new commercial, entitled "Dream Club", reunites the team behind Surfer and forms part of a £5m campaign that breaks this weekend.

Following in the surreal tradition of Surfer, the new advert focuses on the members of a fictional elite club of adventurers who aim to find the meaning of life through their dreams.

Shot in the brewer's trademark black and white, the film shows a member of the group finally achieving his aim, fuelled, of course, by a pint of Guinness.

The commercial ends with the campaign line, "Good things come to those who wait".

Dream Club was created by Guinness's advertising agency Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO and directed by Jonathan Glazer.

The advert was shot in sub-zero temperatures in Budapest using 50 stuntmen and some 500 extras as well as a cast of local actors.

"We are confident that our advertising agency AMV and Jonathan Glazer have come up with the goods again," said Guinness marketing manager Wendy Darlington.

"We expect Dream Club to be one of our most successful campaigns to date."

The campaign is aimed at driving up sales among 18 to 35-year-old men and the commercial will premiere during Sky's coverage of the England v France rugby on Saturday.

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