"Good things come to those who wait" is an

advertising slogan Advertising slogans are short phrases used in advertising campaigns to generate publicity and unify a company's marketing strategy. The phrases may be used to attract attention to a distinctive product feature or reinforce a company's brand. Etym ...

used by

Diageo Diageo plc () is a Multinational corporation, multinational alcoholic beverage company, with its headquarters in London, England. It operates from 132 sites around the world. It was the world's largest distiller before being overtaken by Kweich ...

in television, cinema, and print

advertising campaign An advertising campaign is a series of advertisement messages that share a single idea and theme which make up an integrated marketing communication (IMC). An IMC is a platform in which a group of people can group their ideas, beliefs, and conc ...

s promoting

Guinness Guinness () is an Irish dry stout that originated in the brewery of Arthur Guinness at St. James's Gate, Dublin, Ireland, in 1759. It is one of the most successful alcohol brands worldwide, brewed in almost 50 countries, and available in ove ...

-brand draught

stout Stout is a dark, top-fermented beer with a number of variations, including dry stout, oatmeal stout, milk stout, and imperial stout. The first known use of the word ''stout'' for beer, in a document dated 1677 found in the Egerton Manuscript ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. The slogan formed the cornerstone of

advertising agency An advertising agency, often referred to as a creative agency or an ad agency, is a business dedicated to creating, planning, and handling advertising and sometimes other forms of promotion and marketing for its clients. An ad agency is generally ...

Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO's successful pitch to secure the Guinness account in 1996.Archer, Katy;
The Art of Advertising
' (interview with Matt Doman and Ian Heartfield),

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

, 16 January 2006. Retrieved 21 October 2007. Their proposal was to turn around the negative consumer opinion of the length of time required to correctly pour a pint of Guinness from the tap, usually quoted as 119.5 seconds, as well as to encourage

bartender A bartender (also known as a barkeep, barman, barmaid, or a mixologist) is a person who formulates and serves alcoholic or soft drink beverages behind the bar, usually in a licensed establishment as well as in restaurants and nightclubs, but a ...

s to take the time to do so. A similar idea had been incorporated into a number of Guinness campaigns in the past, such as the

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

" Guinness Time" television and cinema spots of the early 1990s. The first piece of the "Good Things..." campaign to be launched was the sixty-second '' Swimblack'' television and cinema commercial, in which an aging local sports hero annually swims in a race from an offshore

buoy A buoy () is a floating device that can have many purposes. It can be anchored (stationary) or allowed to drift with ocean currents. Types Navigational buoys * Race course marker buoys are used for buoy racing, the most prevalent form of yac ...

to his brother's seafront

pub A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

against the "clock" of pint of Guinness being correctly poured at the bar. The advertisement, which premiered on 16 May 1998, was successful at boosting sales, particularly among the older male

demographic Demography () is the statistical study of populations, especially human beings. Demographic analysis examines and measures the dimensions and dynamics of populations; it can cover whole societies or groups defined by criteria such as edu ...

. The other major success of the campaign during its original four-year run was the critically acclaimed '' Surfer'' commercial released in 1999; a more serious black-and-white piece for television and cinema inspired by

Walter Crane Walter Crane (15 August 184514 March 1915) was an English artist and book illustrator. He is considered to be the most influential, and among the most prolific, children's book creators of his generation and, along with Randolph Caldecott and K ...

's 1892 painting '' Neptune's Horses''. ''Surfer'' went on to be voted the "Best Ad of All Time" in a poll conducted by ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...

'' and

in 2002. After several other variations on the theme, including '' Bet on Black'' and '' Dreamer'', the campaign was put on the backburner. The primary motivation behind this was Diageo's decision to forgo regional advertising in the United Kingdom and Ireland in favour of pan-

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

an campaigns, in the same manner as Guinness campaigns in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

and the

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

n Michael Power series. The "Good Things..." slogan proved difficult to translate, and so a decision was made to pursue other campaign ideas. Two of the more successful slogans tried out between 2000 and 2005 were "Believe" (''

Tom Crean Tom or Thomas Crean may refer to: *Thomas Crean (1873–1923), Irish rugby union player, British Army soldier and doctor *Tom Crean (explorer) (1877–1938), Irish seaman and Antarctic explorer *Tom Crean (basketball) Thomas Aaron Crean (born Ma ...

'', '' Free In'', '' Volcano Rescue'') and "A story of light and dark" (''

Moth Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of w ...

'', ''

Mustang The mustang is a free-roaming horse of the Western United States, descended from horses brought to the Americas by the Spanish. Mustangs are often referred to as wild horses, but because they are descended from once-domesticated animals, they ...

''). In 2005 Diageo made the decision to return to regional marketing campaigns. As such, Abbot Mead Vickers BBDO were presented with the choice of either coming up with a new slogan, or attempting to find a fresh take on "Good Things...". Feeling that none of the replacements that had been tried out in the intervening years had matched the appeal of Good Things..., the agency decided to attempt to find a new angle on their old concept. Several ideas were proposed, and the one believed to show the most promise was that of "The Longest Wait". After a basic script had been put together, the agency brought director

Daniel Kleinman Daniel Kleinman (born 23 December 1955) is a British television commercial and music video director who has designed every title sequence for the ''James Bond'' series of films since ''GoldenEye'' (1995), with the exception of '' Quantum of ...

on board. The result was commercial ''

noitulovE ''noitulovE'' ("Evolution" backwards) is a British television and cinema advertisement launched by Diageo in 2005 to promote Guinness Draught stout. The 60-second piece formed the cornerstone of a £15 million advertising campaign targeti ...

'', which followed three Guinness patrons travelling backwards through time, "de-evolving" into a number of species along the way. The piece was a huge success both critically and financially: it received more awards than any other commercial in the world in 2006, and was credited with pushing Guinness into the position of

market leader Market dominance describes when a firm can control markets. A dominant firm possesses the power to affect competition and influence market price. A firms' dominance is a measure of the power of a brand, product, service, or firm, relative to c ...

in the United Kingdom beer market. Spurred on by this success, AMV BBDO produced several more "Good Things..." print and television commercials in 2006 and 2007, such as ''

Hands A hand is a prehensile, multi-fingered appendage located at the end of the forearm or forelimb of primates such as humans, chimpanzees, monkeys, and lemurs. A few other vertebrates such as the koala (which has two opposable thumbs on each " ...

'' and ''

Fridge A refrigerator, colloquially fridge, is a commercial and home appliance consisting of a thermally insulated compartment and a heat pump (mechanical, electronic or chemical) that transfers heat from its inside to its external environment so th ...

''. The most recent item in the campaign is '' Tipping Point'', Guinness' most expensive commercial to date, which premiered on British television on 13 November 2007.Martin, N
New Guinness advert: Giant domino village
''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'', 13 November 2007. Retrieved 15 November 2007.

References

External links

''Surfer''
on the

Framestore CFC Framestore is a British animation, visual effects company and creative studio based on Chancery Lane in London. Formed in 1986, it acquired (and subsequently merged with) the Computer Film Company in 1997. It works on feature films and telev ...

website.
''Dreamer''
on the Framestore CFC website.
''noitulovE''
on the

website.
''Fridge''
on the Guinness website.

on the Guinness website. {{Good Things British advertising slogans 1996 neologisms Guinness advertising