Cartier's Epic Old World Luxury Storytelling Tactic Is Being Copied and Ruined

I recently noticed that Louis Vuitton's first TV commercial L'Invitation Au Voyage featuring a hot air balloon in Paris and Burberry's holiday gift campaign of gold balloons carrying presents across London landmarks reminded me a lot of Cartier's L'Odyssée campaign which premiered earlier this year in March with an epic 3:30 TV spot during prime time television.

It's clear just by looking at the websites for Louis Vuitton and Burberry that these efforts were influenced by Cartier's L'Odyssée:

Perhaps Louis Vuitton and Burberry hired Cartier's Creative Director, and that Creative Director had some spare time to work on a Martini & Rossi commercial as well (watch the last video in the post). Is the luxury and cheap champagne industry quickly losing its creative edge and identity by jumping on the latest and greatest shiny object of Golden Compass-like fantasy storytelling--a blend of old world with new attitude and lots of floating/levitation? I'll give Cartier credit for shattering the expectations of Luxury advertising and for throwing a ton of money against a very ambitious idea of creating a compelling mini-film commercial that's exciting and highlights the brand beautifully. Did Louis Vuitton achieved this with L'Invitation Au Voyage, I would say far from it. Did Martini & Rossi's golden balloons give me the sense of grandeur that Cartier's giant gold LOVE bracelets rolling in snow did? Not really. Did both of these commercials remind me of how mediocre they are compared to Cartier's epic journey through time and space, fantasy and reality? Yes. Moral of the story is 'go big or go home' and if you're going to copy a commercial make sure to include the panther.