Hasta La Ideas

Recalling one of the best (and best-loved) ads of all time, AMV’s latest Guinness campaign features the boiling surf of Tahiti, as shot by photographer Brian Bielmann

Considering the awe with which Surfer is still regarded, it’s perhaps a risky step for AMV BBDO to invite such obvious comparisons by going back into the water with new spot Surge. The 20 second ad will run on UK TV and in cinemas until October 20 this year.

It’s certainly an altogether more modest affair than Jonathan Glazer’s 1999 epic.

But hats off to creatives Nicholas Hulley and Nadja Lossgott for persuading their client in these straitened times that the ad absolutely had to be shot in Tahiti (by surf specialist Brian Bielmann) rather than in a water tank in a studio on some industrial estate (although as Giles Revell’s BBC Art Revealed ident showed, you can do some pretty wonderful things in a tank).

Of course, a shoot on an industrial estate will not supply the kind of ‘making of’ film deemed to play such an important supporting role in ad campaigns today (the footage of how Bielmann puts himself between wave and reef to get his shots is amazing, by the way).

Such a commitment to doing things for real and not on the cheap is surely to be lauded as it is so rare these days. While the commercial may be underwhelming in comparison to You Know What, the decision to shoot in the ocean is borne out by the spectacular imagery in these 6 sheet posters

And these two 48 sheets which ran in Ireland in June

Credits:
Creative Agency: AMV BBDO
Creative Director: Dave Buchanan
Copywriter: Nicholas Hulley
Art Director: Nadja Lossgott
Designer: Richard Holgate
TV Producer: James Robley
Art buyer: Kirstie Johnstone
Director: Scott Mortensen and Daren Crawford