• Brand - Guinness
• Spot - John Hammond, Intolerant Champion
• Music Title - Sing Sing Sing (With A Swing)
• Artist - James Horner
• Composer - Prima, Berry, Razaf
• Publisher - Sony/ATV
• Master Rights - Disney Records
• Ad Agency - AMV BBDO, Irish International
• Creatives - Steve Jones, Martin Loraine, Dave Buchanan, Pat Hamill, Mark Nutley
• Film Company - Cherry
• Film Director - Jake Nava
• Post Production - The Mill
• Air Date - 01/02/16

Guinness may have surpassed its own reputation for creating top class TV commercials with a new spot immortalising John Hammond II – the legendary US A&R and record producer who signed such überstars as Benny Goodman, Billie Holiday, Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen to the mighty CBS (now Sony Music) Records.

This pin sharp B&W film, which is also available on Instagram, was first conceived in 2014 as part of the brewing giant’s on-going Made Of More campaign.

It lovingly recreates New York in the Lindy Hop era when Hammond was making his name as a controversial radio DJ championing equal rights for Afro American musicians.

Powering the piece, which is voiced by comic actor Danny Glover, is a version of Benny Goodman’s 1937 jazz classic Sing Sing Sing (With a Swing) as replicated by Titanic and Avatar composer James Horner for the 1993 Hollywood movie Swing Kids.

“When the creative team first presented the script they used this track to set the scene for the era and mood of the film and it felt like a perfect match immediately,“ says a spokesperson at agency AMV BBDO which co-operated with Dublin’s Irish International on the commercial.

“Choreographer Gary Nurse recruited expert dancers from Amsterdam to perform the authentic jitterbug routines which were all shot in London.”