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Featured era: 2005
Sony Bravia Balls
“250,000 bouncing balls, one San Francisco hill.”
- Featured era
- 2005
- Peak era
- 2005-2006
- Company
- Fallon London / Sony
- Category
- Viral Videos
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On Video
Sony Bravia's "Balls" advert
Plays from YouTube when you press play. Views, length and date from YouTube, October 2026.
About This Video
- From:
- 32cn32
- Added:
- February 11, 2010
- Length:
- 2:30
More Videos4 videos
What Was It?
"Balls" is a television advert for Sony's Bravia LCD televisions in which 250,000 multicoloured bouncy balls pour down the steep streets of Russian Hill in San Francisco. The agency Fallon London made it from a two-line script by Juan Cabral, Danish filmmaker Nicolai Fuglsig directed it, and the balls were filmed for real, without computer graphics.
The advert first aired in November 2005, set to José González's acoustic cover of "Heartbeats" by the Swedish duo the Knife. The song went on to reach number nine on the UK Singles Chart.
People went looking for the advert online, and that interest pushed Sony to make the follow-ups "Paint" and "Play-Doh". "Balls" won a Gold Lion at Cannes in 2006 and holds the Guinness World Record for the most props used in a TV commercial.
Things You Probably Forgot
- "Colour like no other"
- José González's quiet guitar
- The frog among the bouncing balls
- Wondering who picked up all the balls afterwards
The Story
- 2005 Fallon London filmed 250,000 bouncy balls on Filbert and Leavenworth Streets in San Francisco.
- 2005 The advert first aired in November, set to José González's "Heartbeats".
- 2006 Director Nicolai Fuglsig won a Gold Lion at the Cannes Lions festival in June.
Its Legacy
Copies of the advert are still on YouTube. It remains one of the best-remembered adverts of the 2000s and brought José González's "Heartbeats" to a huge audience.
Memories
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