There are run-of-the-mill television ads and then there are ones that are really special. The latest Cartier ad falls in the "really special" category. Since the three-and-a-half minute ad debuted during The Good Wife a couple of weeks ago, it has been viewed more than six million times on YouTube and still has people talking.
More like a mini-movie than an ad, Odyssee de Cartier, traces the brand's 165-year history through a globe-trotting leopard that travels to iconic locations like the St. Petersburg, Russia, the Great Wall of China and the Taj Mahal.
Though made to look like it takes place in India, China and Russia, the commercial was actually shot in France, Italy, Spain and Belgium, Advertising Age reports.
The leopards had never been in snow and officials weren't quite sure how the animals would react.
It took two years and more than $5 million for the agency Publicis Marcel to produce the ad, which features live animals because officials were worried that too much CGI would make it look like a video game. They were concerned, though, because the leopards had never been in snow and they weren't quite sure how the animals would react. But they loved it.
In addition to really cool visual effects (a slithering dragon, elephants, horses in the snow and a Kitty Hawk-like aircraft) and loads of glittery jewelry, an 84-piece orchestra plays a stirring John Williams-like score throughout the commercial.
Now, that's entertainment.
