Sony Bravia Advert: Europe Vs. Japan Nov 11 2005
Have you seen Sony Europe's "Colour like no other" TV advert for the Bravia? 250,000 multi-coloured rubber balls bouncing down a San Francisco street? It's a great piece of work, and shines all the more when compared to the lamentable series of adverts in Sony's native Japan.
You have to admire Danish director Nicolai Fuglsig for coming up with such a simple, pure celebration of colour, which for the first time in ages actually made me take interest in a new product. You have to admire Sony Europe even more for being open minded enough to allow the project to run and to not get in the way
Compare that with the bland series on show here in Japan; views of night skies and rainbows which zoom out to reveal they're... wait for it... actually images on a TV screen! How original! I'm not a big fan of competitor Sharp's series of adverts for their Aquos range (ridiculously large TVs in even more ridiculously stylish interiors), but at least they've successfully carved out an identity for their product with them. I can't imagine Sony managing the same with the current Bravia adverts.
And the 30 second European advert treats not only our eyes (by really throwing the superballs down the hill - there's no CG in there), but also our ears with José González' gorgeous "Heartbeats" backing track. I might not have been persuaded to buy a new TV yet, but a quick trip to the iTunes Music Store isn't going to break the bank. Sony Japan's series however, are backed by salaryman karaoke-esque croonings of Louis Armstrong's "What A Wonderful World". They are truly terrible.
The silly thing of course, is that all the Japanese people here in the office who I've shown the advert to have absolutely loved it, and would much rather be seeing it on their screens than the current offering. No doubt there are many reasons Sony Japan isn't showing the superball version here, perhaps they never will. But maybe the success of the European version will encourage them to try a little harder in the future. Seaching for "sony bravia" on Google ranks the site for the European advert higher than the product page at Sony. Just goes to show how powerful a piece of creative work can be.
Have a look at all the adverts and see for yourself:
Sony Europe: http://www.bravia-advert.com
Sony Japan: http://www.sony.jp/products/Consumer/bravia/cm/
Sharp Aquos Japan: https://aquos.jp/inside/cm/
You might also like to read my post on Honda's advertising in the UK compared with Japan.