I came across the new Absolut Vodka ad the other day and was amazed how Sagmeister-ish it was. I wonder if they wanted him to do it but were turned down due to Sagmeister having his re-accuring year off. So maybe they just thought “Let’s do a Sagmeister thing anyway”. Either way, TBWA made a beautiful commercial but I think it’s too close to the obvious inspiration (Stefan Sagmeister’s “Things I Have Learned In My Life So Far”).
There are various theories in the industry as to why Absolut would do something so close to Sagmeister’s signature style. Some people think it’s an obvious gimmick to draw attention and get viral effect from people discussing it online (in which case I’m jumping right in). But if that’s the case I think it would be a lot more sympathetic to do a really great creative ad to draw attention on it’s own, rather then relying on negativity due to plagiarism to do it for them.
Let me know what you think.
The Absolut ad:
Two Sagmeister examples:
