My Most Immortal Ad: Emma Robbins on Sony 'Balls'

After busting my arse trying to come up with amazing scripts/dialogue/gags for most of 2005, Sony Balls lands. And it wasn’t any of those things. It wasn’t even an ad. It was an action. A magical two-minute-30-second celebration of color, starring a quarter of a million bouncy balls, a dog on a ledge, an inconvenienced frog and the inclines of San Fran.  The spot made me want to be better, the three day budget and 23 person camera crew in body armor and riot shields made me want to move to the States, and the Jose soundtrack made me want to drink champagne and watch it over and over in bed with someone I love.

So ambitious. So incredibly simple. But tipping what the industry could do upside down. 

I remember reading an article with David Patton, the VP of Marketing for Sony Europe later on.  He said the script when he saw it made him feel uncomfortable. He said it was the shortest script he’d ever had presented to him. Simply saying: “We go to San Francisco and let a million brightly coloured balls loose down the steep hills of the city. Title: Colour Like No Other”.’ 

Seems like Balls was aptly named after you, Mr Patton.