Apple received a lot of flak for its first M4 iPad Pro ad. Some creatives didn’t like the symbolism of all sorts of products and devices getting crushed to pieces in a massive press. I get it, but I also think it was all blown way out of proportion. That’s obviously not the message Apple was trying to send with the M4 iPad Pro ad. But Apple heard the criticism and pulled the commercial.
With all the talk about the iPad ad, I discovered a different commercial that’s so much better. Montblanc hired Wes Anderson to make a commercial for the Meisterstück pen’s 100th anniversary. The famous director delivered something that is above and beyond anything you might expect.
He also created his own Montblanc pen without the company knowing about it until they shot the clip. Maybe Apple should hire Anderson to make an M4 iPad Pro ad next.
If you’re familiar with Wes Anderson’s movies, the Montblanc ad will make you feel right at home. Everything is just perfect. It’s a 3-minute ad I can’t get enough of, and I’ve watched it a few times already.
Anderson isn’t just directing this mini-movie; he also stars in it. Actors and longtime collaborators Rupert Friend and Jason Schwartzman are also in it. The three of them do a great but clumsy job promoting Montblanc products.
They keep interrupting each other as they talk about the Meisterstück pen and other Montblanc products, and it really feels like an Anderson movie. It’s all well-choreographed and incredibly hilarious.
The twist comes halfway through the commercial when we learn that Wes Anderson designed his own Montblanc pen, which will be available to buy next year.
Well, according to Vogue Business, Anderson’s set design team assembled the colorful, tiny Schreiberling pen. That’s the name of the pen, which means “the scribbler” in German.
The custom pen was a major surprise for Montblanc:
That had not been part of the pitch. “Another surprise!” says Vincent Montalescot, Montblanc’s chief marketing officer, who recalls saying to himself, “Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.” It takes two to three years for Montblanc artisans to design a writing instrument. This one had been assembled by a member of Anderson’s set design team, based on a tiny Montblanc model. “We were like, ‘Wow, it fits the brief. Now, can we make it?'”
Still, the company made 10 Schreiberlings and will manufacture a total of 1,969 units, to commemorate the year Anderson was born. They’re available for preorder at $2,500 each and will be delivered in May 2025.
Back to the ad, Montblanc will run different versions in key markets, featuring additional actors for some clips. To be honest, I could watch an entire Wes Anderson movie about Montblanc pens at this point.
Given how crazy this entire story is, part of me wants Apple to hire Wes Anderson to film a similar iPad ad, just so I can hear the story about how Anderson created his own tiny iPad for the ad. Maybe he can figure out how to put that M4 chip in an iPad mini…
