As the world tuned in to watch the Coronation of King Charles III, a spoof Guinness ad from Australian-based creative, Anthony Smith, was attracting its own worldwide attention, racking up a very respectable 1.8 million views so far. And it caught the attention of many a notable person and organizations as well.
Celebrities, journalists, leading Australian marketers, and creatives, including Huw Edwards, the BBC’s chief anchor and lead presenter of the British broadcaster’s Coronation coverage, Made In Chelsea star Jamie Lang, and Telstra’s CMO Brent Smart, liked or shared Smith’s post, which was part of a series of five ads to mark the historic occasion of the new King taking the throne.
Smith, who works as brand director at Sydney-based data, creative and performance marketing agency Jaywing, drew on the Diageo-owned brand’s famous ‘Good things come to those who wait.’ brand platform using crown iconography in famous black nectar’s foam.
After appearing on his LinkedIn profile, the unofficial ad quickly went viral, with one leading global advertising publication even posting it, before it was quickly removed.
The BBC’s Edwards liked the post, while Made in Chelsea’s Lang shared it to his one million Instagram followers, saying: “They kill it every time”.
Telstra CMO Brent Smart said on Linkedin “There are topical ads. And then there are long-running iconic campaigns that can be both timeless and timely.”
Other fans of Smith’s work include Bloomberg columnist Ben Schott who said: “10/10. No Notes” and The Times and The Sunday Times columnist Alex Massie who said: “Brilliant ad”.
“I’m a huge Guinness advertising fan/nerd and used to focus a lot of my Uni work on it,” said said Smith, who created the ad in Photoshop in just 15 minutes.
“It started with the fact there was this one off, almost once in a lifetime event on the horizon and I wanted to try and get something out there that might get the agency (and me) some traction.”
While Diageo or Guinness hasn’t commented on the viral ad, Smith, added: “It reinforces the importance of brand building and having a consistent brand platform that has been built over decades, that this would even be possible.
The ‘Good things come to those who wait’ line is synonymous with Guinness and was perfect for this purpose given the time King Charles has waited for the crown.”
However, Smith said he had a few regrets: “I’ve been told it’s an old Guinness logo and if I’d had known how much interest there was going to be, I’d have spent more time on it!”
He also issued an apology on LinkedIn saying “Apologies to the admins of Diageo & BBDO Worldwide for the amount of notifications.”
Smith created four additional Coronation-related ads, drawing on Corona, Budweiser, Puma, and Burger King for inspiration, with Budweiser UK and Corona USA both liking the posts on Instagram.
