“We stand at the summit of Mont Blanc, the White Mountain. Highest peak of the Alpine arch and inspiration for the first Montblanc fountain pen, designed over 100 years ago for the adventurous traveler who wants to leave his mark.”
Say what you want of Wes Anderson’s oeuvre, but his gift for ad copy speaks for itself. With a commercial track record that includes collaborations with American Express, SoftBank, Stella Artois, Prada, and H&M, Anderson’s touch seems to translate as well to sales as it does to cinematic ennui. His most recent commission, an advertisement campaign for Montblanc’s 100th Anniversary of its Meisterstück pen, features Anderson himself, sporting a whispy walrus mustache, as well as frequent collaborators Jason Schwartzman and Rupert Friend, all posing as a group of mountain-climbers with a particular affection for the freedom and inspiration offered by Montblanc’s products.
Shot by renowned cinematographer Linus Sandgren of “No Time To Die” and “Saltburn” fame, the ad takes us from the cold, snowy caps of Mont Blanc to a cozy chalet Anderson announces as The Mont Blanc Observatory and Writer’s Room, headquarters of Inspire Writing, another slogan for the campaign. According to a write-up in Vogue Business, the ten-second sequence from outside to inside took 50 takes.
“I have to admit that sometimes I did not understand,” said Montblanc’s Chief Marketing Officer, Vincent Montalescot. “When does he consider that this is right and we can move on? Rupert [Friend] was telling me he’s always that way.”
The short film was shot over the course of two days at Studio Babelsberg in Germany, where Anderson is currently filming his next feature, “The Phoenician Scheme”, with actors Benicio Del Toro, Michael Cera, Bill Murray, and Riz Ahmed, as well as new collaborator Bruno Delbonnel behind the camera. The upcoming film marks the first time Anderson has worked on a feature without cinematographer Robert Yeoman, but judging from his recent work with Sandgren now too, it seems like something he’s adjusting to well.
Along with the commercial, Anderson also surprised executives at Montblanc by announcing his own pen he had assembled by his set design team and that he would include in the commercial. Known as the Schreiberling, which translates to ‘the scribbler’ in German, Montblanc has agreed to produce 1,969 copies of this small, green fountain pen to commemorate Anderson’s birth year, 1969. It is available for pre-order now as part of the larger Meisterstück campaign at a cost of $2500 and will be delivered by May 2025.
Watch Anderson’s Montblanc commercial below.
