What's the Longest You've Ever Waited? Guinness Said 500 Million Years / Guinness "noitulovE"

The problem

In 2004, Guinness decided to return to regional advertising and brought in AMV BBDO. CD Matt Domanposed a simple question: how long will people wait for the perfect pint? It was a bold move after four years of silence.

The insight

Human evolution had been heading toward a pint of Guinness all along — Doman took that arrogant, romantic idea and built it directly into the structure of the film. Play it forward and it's just the story of evolution, and everyone already knows how that ends. But play it backward, and you have no idea what's coming next. So you keep watching.

The idea

The men leave the pub and walk backward down the street, and time runs backward with them. The Edwardian era, the Bronze Age, the city disappears, then early humans, chimpanzees, flying squirrels, fish, dinosaurs. It all lands on a mudskipper in a puddle. It licks the water and makes a disgusted face — and for that one instant, time runs forward again. The whole film exists for that one second. The music is Sammy Davis Jr.'s "Rhythm of Life." They originally planned to use a Groove Armada track, but it didn't feel right, so they swapped it out.

What happened

The film won the Grand Prix in the Film category at Cannes Lions. The 2006 Gunn Report named it the most-awarded campaign in the world that year. While the UK beer market overall saw declining sales, Guinness's sales grew, and it overtook Stella Artois to become the market leader.

Afterthought

The leap of imagination in answering "the longest wait" with 500 million years. The sheer power of the reverse structure itself. And that one moment of humor when the mudskipper recoils from the water. Put it all together, and an ad becomes culture. I feel like I could wait 500 million years too 🍺

Awards

• Cannes Lions Grand Prix 2006

Featured in

• From 1 Second to 500 Million YearsTen ads lined up by nothing but the length of time they cover

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