Unearthly Delights

I just know that the late Walter Lürzer, founder of Archive magazine, would have hated the brand new Hennessy campaign by DDB Paris that is coming to your screens on Oscar night. It was directed by the legendary Ridley Scott ("Alien," "Blade Runner," "Thelma and Louise" "Gladiator" etc.). In its grandeur and extravagance, it is like nothing we've seen for a long, long time, if not ever before. That it's not automatically "good" advertising is debatable. "Way too expensive, too little information that is relevant to the product, what madness!" he might have grumbled. This is not the type of brand-glorifying advertising that Walter Lürzer – with his feet firmly planted in the tradition of a Bill Bernbach or Howard Gossage – was interested in and could not really be impressed by. As a result, he would have scoffed at me selecting the 4-minute short film as our Spot of the Week. And yet, this latest offering by the legendary commercials director (e.g. Apple "1984," his perhaps most famous one, and for brands such as Chanel No.5, Perrier, Levi's, Turkish airlines, just to mention a few among the hundreds of spots the man has done throughout his career) who has only returned to commercial work after an absence of 15 years is like hardly anything you have seen before and will in all likelihood see again anytime soon.

It's the brand's very first Oscar ad, titled "7 Worlds," and presents a mix of epic drama and sci-fi odyssey that’s reminiscent of Ridley Scott's sci-fi masterpieces. The video highlights the seven notes of X.O–sweet notes, rising heat, spicy edge, flowing flame, chocolate lull, wood crunches, and infinite echo – and pays homage to the Oscars with a scene that includes colossal golden figures similar to the Oscars award statue.

Client: Hennessy. Ad Agency: DDB Paris. Creative Directors: Alexander Kalchev, Pierre Mathonat, Alexis Benbehe. Director: Ridley Scott. Production Company: Soixante Quinze 75.