L'Odyssée de Cartier

Why it works

Cartier's emblem, the panther, comes to life and sets off across the world of the house: through a snowbound St Petersburg, along the Great Wall of China and into an imaginary Indian palace inspired by the Tutti Frutti jewels, passing heritage pieces such as Maria Pavlovna's jewels and the Santos-Dumont watch, before returning to the Place Vendôme, where model Shalom Harlow waits. Directed by Bruno Aveillan for Marcel and Publicis 133, the three-and-a-half-minute film was Cartier's first institutional campaign since 1994, made for its 165th anniversary and aimed partly at emerging markets where the breadth of the brand was little known. It was first broadcast in March 2012 on TF1 and Canal+ outside the ad breaks, and in cinemas. It is studied as a benchmark of luxury storytelling on an epic scale: three real panthers filmed from Prague to the Dolomites, Spain and Paris, an 84-piece orchestra, and a reported budget of about €4 million. It won the Grand Prix Stratégies du luxe in 2012.