Quiksilver's 2007 "Dynamite Surfer" Viral Video Ad

In 2007, just two years after YouTube's launch, co-founder and partner of The Brainstormclub Jonas Arnby directed a video for Quiksilver that became a viral internet hit.

The clip shows a group of young people, one of whom paddles into a lake on a surfboard while another lights and throws dynamite from a bridge.

The explosion creates a large wave, which the surfer then rides.

The concept was written by Simon Wooller, a creative director at Saatchi & Saatchi.

Despite its appearance as grainy, low-quality mobile phone footage, the video was actually shot using high-definition cameras and later altered digitally.

The scene was filmed for three days at the Dronning Louise Bridge over Copenhagen's Lake Sortedams.

The explosion and surfing sequences were shot separately on a deserted Danish coastline with the help of a professional pyrotechnics company.

The footage was then combined and degraded in Flame software to mimic the look of a mobile phone video.

The post-production took 100 hours of work.

Simon Wooller explained that the intention was to blur the lines between reality and fiction, making it unclear if the video was real or staged.

He emphasized that while the events in the advert did occur, they did not happen simultaneously, as the video suggests.

The success of the advert, according to Wooller, hinged on its appeal to the "YouTube generation," who shared and popularized such content on platforms like MySpace and YouTube.

However, this 80-second clip, which has been viewed over ten million times, also sparked a debate about its authenticity, with some viewers even attempting to replicate the stunt.

Footage: The Brainstorm Club
Creatives: Saatchi and Saatchi