Guinness is having a good week ad-wise. First it launched its £7 million (€8.89 million) advertising campaign, then one of its most popular ads was named Marketing magazine's Ad of the Century at an awards ceremony last night. The "Island" ad, featuring men in a currach with a catchline of "ta siad ag teacht", is now 22 years old and was created by Frank Sheerin while at Arks.
The new generation of Guinness drinkers, who are currently being lured to the black stuff by images of an oyster-slurping model and romantic horseback riders, would be amazed at how heritage-driven and gentle Guinness ads used to be in the dim, distant 1970s.
The Ad of the Century judges, who included RTE's Geraldine O'Leary and Windmill Lane's Peter Brady, also made several awards in the radio category, with Frank Sheerin again taking the big prize for his hilarious Homestead ads. It was a bad day, however, for the National Newspapers of Ireland, as no prizes were given in the print category. Only about 10 print entries were received out of a total submission of 572 ads.
