Thursday, July 23, 2009

Sony Bravia Advertising Campaign

Recently I came across another great advertising campaign. I'm not sure why I enjoy advertising so much, especially since I hate literally 90% of commercials out there. And usually if I like a commercial, it's because it was funny and maybe had nothing to do with the product being sold. Rarely do I enjoy a commercial that tries to be serious or "artsy." Sony Bravia somehow made this work.

I've thought a bit about why it works, and I'm still not entirely sure. I have no background in psychology or advertising, but there's probably some theory or popular template and these commercials follow or something.

I do know that I like the "improv everywhere" sort of feel to them. They take a place that is ordinary and familiar and do something extraordinary with it. It's like they play off our desire for things to be new and exciting. Like when you're a kid and everything you learn is amazing and entertaining, but somehow we get old and forget how to play. That's seriously what these commercials feel like.

Anyways, enough babbling, enjoy a few rare memorable commercials. I've only embedded three of my favorites, although there are a few more. The bouncy ball one is the best. I swear miles of rolling hills and thousands of bouncy balls would be like heaven to me. Great song choices in these too, by the way.

New York with Clay Bunnies



Glasgow with Paint



San Francisco with Bouncing Balls



More Sony Bravia Commercials and Behind the Scenes Stuff:

India with Dominoes

Pyramids with Spools

The Making of Bouncy Balls

The Making of Glasgow Paint

The Making of Clay Bunnies

8 comments:

Brian said...

Those look like a little bit older TVs. How did I miss that awesome advertising campaign? They must have been only in the UK or something.

I noticed in all three videos you posted there is a shot with something coming out of a gutter spout. I guess they're paint cannons in the second video but I thought they were gutter spouts at first.

Arthur said...

Dude, I said the same thing. These videos are at least two years old and I never saw the commercials. You'd think with the NY and San Fran ones they'd be aired heavily in the US, but I guess not?

Also, one of my favorite shots in the bouncy ball one is that frog coming out of the gutter and I was hoping the behind the scenes would tell if they set that up. They had to have set that up. I freaking love bouncy balls.

Brian said...

Bouncy balls are a conundrum. To get maximum enjoyment out of them you must bounce them as high as you can, but to bounce them as high as you can increases the risk that you will lose them.

I watched the behind the scenes of the bouncy ball one and they showed that shot of the frog halfway through but they never mentioned if they set it up or not. I want to believe it naturally happened that way. If it did I can just see the directors cheering and high-fiving each other when they watched the tape back.

Brian said...

crap i just noticed you have a checkbox that emails follow-up comments to me that i've never noticed before on your blog. i'm only writing this comment so i can check that box, and from henceforth i will make sure i check the box. such a genius box to check. who wants to keep visiting all the blog posts they've commented on to check for follow-up comments?

Arthur said...

Wow, never knew I had that checkbox thing either. That's amazingly convenient. Glad they thought of it.

And, with bouncy balls, they're like one of the few things you can buy for like 25 cents where you know you're gonna get at least five times your money's worth of pleasure out of it. Those and maybe a box of snap-n-pops. And a new pair of socks.

Brian said...

and 20q. i still don't believe you that it got "a mummy without the wrapping". i actually tried that one last night and it guessed "a ninja". remember when it got "the crest of a wave", "a bottle of Pepsi", "war", "the universe", "everything", "nothing", and "a waterfall"? crazy.

Anonymous said...

Those of you who were wondering about the frog jumping out... It wasn't set up. It was a piece of footage that was realised later in the editing process and was utilised as it was highly unusual, a discretion on the director's part.

Arthur said...

Anonymous- That's crazy. Very fortunate that the camera caught it. That's one of the coolest parts. Smart director too, btw.