Guinness "Chain" Advertisement

Whilst researching for my Dissertation topic I looked into the success of Guinness advertisements over the last 30 years. I was immediately drawn to this advert, "Chain", for two reasons. Firstly it was a fantastic success for the Guinness brand and was at the cutting edge of motion graphics when created and launched in 1994 by Ogilvy & Mather (Davies, 1998) and secondly because it was featured in the Pencil to Pixel conference in Prague.

Having looked into the advert and watching it a few times the complexity of the concept behind it is fantastically fulfilled by the agency. We imagine a "surreal journey" through the "heart of a pint of Guinness and back out again". (Davies, 1998) This creates a brilliant advertisement that draws the viewer in but it is the attention to detail that really interests me. The last scene of the advert shows the pint of Guinness in a room which is filled with iconic Guinness imagery, something that will probably go un-noticed by the majority of viewers. There are items such as a harp and divers helmet from previous iconic Guinness campaigns. There is also on the TV screen a shot from the previous Guinness campaign which had run for arund 8 years.

It is this use of semiotics and attention to detail that I take the most from the advert. Guinness as a brand have created this fantastic cutting edge advertisement yet have subtle use of visual imagery to really emphasize the brand and its values.

Bibliography
DAVIES, J. 1998. The Book of Guinness Advertising. London: Guinness Publishing.