What the new sony ad can tell us about the old sony ad, and vice versa
I think this Wimbledon-centric remake of Sony Balls is a really good lesson in why the first one was so good and how you can take the same basic script and come out with two very different results:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znreR0ShdGc
Of course, we’re all familiar with Balls and most of us like it, so there’s that baggage for the Wimbledon ad to deal with, but there are other elements that make the remake less engaging and memorable.
For a start, the music is quite bland. The old saying tells us that music is 50% of an ad, and it just goes to show how important ‘Heartbeats’ was to the feeling of Balls (a sharper lesson was learned with Sony ‘Paint’, where the music was so crap, they ended up reshowing it with no music and it was much better).
The setting is less interesting. I’m sure other locations could have been used for Balls, but San Francisco has a kind of ethereal hippiness to it that fit perfectly with the idea and music.
And the balls themselves: a beautiful bouncing rainbow is a much more pleasant thing to look at than a sea of grubby green.
Lastly, Balls didn’t have a pair of fuckwitted cuntpipes at the end of it looking like they’d just stepped out of a Daily Mail remake of Lawnmower Man.
And that last point is of course the real key to all classic ads.
Well said.
Those two knobs at the end went full retard. Boring to watch and a yawn to listen to. That’s Wimbledon for you.
If you’re going to do it, do it for real, not in post. And get the timing right. It was 6 years ago. Good god this is boring work.
Lovely closing argument.
“… looking like they‚Äôd just stepped out of a Daily Mail remake of Lawnmower Man.”
That may be just about the funniest thing you’ve ever written Ben. And I have read your book.
Thanks, ORH, but I can’t believe it’s funnier than the line in Instinct about the world’s most pointless erection.
Oh… I get it now. The couple at the end are wearing 3D glasses. I just thought they were blind and didn’t realise that the actual tennis is played in the stadium behind them. Without a doubt it could have been a bit more lively.
Shia Lebeouf is in your book!?
George, I laughed out loud.
its doing it in post rather than for real that is the difference. poor.
Shit post shit post shit post.
As in ‘post production’. Not ‘blog post’. The latter was fine.
i swear this is a spoof
Who did it?!
But….they have used one of the great, unsung views of London. Top of Arthur Road in Wimbledon, coming away from the village. On a clear day you come round the corner and suddenly you can the see the most extraordinary view of the city. Stunning. Easily as good as anything on Primrose Hill, Ally Pally and all those cliched north London views. Very special indeed. And the houses there must have that view every day of the year. Lucky, lucky bastards.