shots 20th: 2005 - The Sony spot that got you by the balls

When Sony Bravia Balls first bounced its way on to television screens in November 2005, there wasn’t a soul in town who could resist the spot’s mesmerizing combo of breathtaking visuals and subtle soundtrack.

Crafted by Fallon London and directed by MJZ’s Nicolai Fuglsig, the film embodied the art of simplicity – take 250,000 bouncy balls, chuck them down some San Francisco hills, and let the magic happen. Add a few character moments (remember the frog in the drainpipe?), overlay the gentle tones of José González, and there you have it – a recipe for one of the best ads of the decade.

“When we saw Juan Cabral’s script we always knew it was going to be extraordinarily original,” remembers Chris Willingham, partner at Fallon, “and its beauty was its simplicity – it was literally a two-line script and you don’t see many of those. We felt it was certainly breaking new ground and positioned ourselves a long way from the competition, who were talking about widgets and product features.”

It took a few goes to convince the client to take the plunge, but once given the green light the crew frantically bought up as many bright bouncy balls as they could and headed for the Californian sunshine equipped with armoured dollies, 20-foot cannons and an army of production assistants. But did they realise quite what a winning formula they had hit upon?

“When I noticed a biker-style brute of a teamster with tears in his eyes,” says director Fuglsig, “and six city blocks of onlookers in shock and awe after the first take, I knew we were on to something. It was the mesmerizing idea of childish dreams; simple, strong and original. More art than advertising.”

“We felt that if we did it right it would have that universal appeal,” agrees Willingham. “It was so simple and bold and potentially iconic that it could transcend all the cultural and language barriers and become something that everyone could connect with wherever in the world they were. A lot of the detail was important, too, such as the choice of the balls – the fact that we got translucent balls and the sun shone through them was good fortune.”

Balls went on to win international acclaim and spawned a series of other equally brightly coloured films for Sony Bravia, including Jonathan Glazer’s Paint and Frank Budgen’s Play-Doh. And as well as catapulting Swedish singer González into the limelight, the ad also kickstarted a trend for folksy ad compositions. Sadly for the team, Balls narrowly missed out on the Grand Prix at Cannes in 2006, losing to Guinness’ noitulovE, but for Fuglsig it’s still a job he won’t forget anytime soon: “It opened a lot of doors and I’m proud of the whole experience. For sure it’s one of the highlights of my commercial career.”

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