Editorial: Guinness needs to trust its gut feeling.(Editorial)

The weird and wonderful world of Guinness that Rutger Hauer fronted in the late 80s and early 90s is making a comeback (Campaign, 30 April).

Remember the emotive combination of Brueghel's Tower of Babel and Louis Armstrong's We Have All the Time in the World? It really was 'pure genius'.

Nevertheless, the decision to adapt and reuse its iconic advertising of old is a strange one, not least because much of the youth market that Guinness is so desperately trying to attract is too young to recall the original campaign.

The tension between Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO and its Guinness client is well documented. Reports vary, but it is known that the agency produced an impossible amount of creative ideas before eventually persuading Guinness that the current ad, 'moth', was good enough to shoot.

Now it seems both Guinness and AMV are looking with nostalgic warmth at past ads and thinking that rehashing them to support Guinness Extra Cold over the summer will offer both sides temporary respite from their constant search for the elusive next campaign.

Of course, neither will ever admit, even to themselves, that this is their motivation. Indeed, Guinness' PR claims it is merely 'paying homage' to its previous advertising.

The main reason things have gone pear-shaped is that Guinness' ...