By Carsten Glock

What made Guinness’ 1999 Surfer advert such a creative and commercial success?

Was it the decision to use black and white film? The pulsating “tick follows tock” script? The photographic majesty of crashing waves and horses? Or was it how the surfer’s patient wait to catch the perfect wave spoke to Guinness’ brand essence—the particularity of waiting for the foam to settle on a pint of the dark stuff—because “good things come to those who wait?”