The Man with the Guinness was the campaign name for the now legendary series of ads for the black stuff that ran from 1987 to 1994. I joined the Guinness brand team at the tail end of that period just as the final ad, Chain, was being put together.

This is the Beer Game. Beer is ordered by the customer at the retailer (he passed a slip of paper with a number on it to my friend sitting in front of the retailer slot). The retailer orders from the wholesaler, by passing him a paper slip with an order number on it. The wholesaler orders from the distributor and the distributor orders from the producer.

The goal of the game is to maximize profit. You make money for orders fulfilled. You lose money for keeping inventory and for unfulfilled backorders. Once you get orders, there is a four week delay as the paperwork is processed, the beer is picked, it goes onto a pallet, then goes onto a truck and finally gets delivered.

Markov chocolates: