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Client: Sony
Creative Agency: McKinney

Sony Electronics made history when they launched the Sony Bravia LCD TV as The World's First Television for Men and Women, taking cues from the product's combination of great design and great performance. Now they're making history again with the Choose Your Ending campaign, creating commercial endings for men and women. And later in the campaign, viewers will be allowed to choose which ones they'd like to watch-- in real time. How: TiVo and other DVRs, VOD channels and the internet. At a time when marketers fear DVRs because they allow viewers to skip commercials, Sony and McKinney are embracing DVRs because they allow viewers to skip commercials, Sony and McKinney are embracing DVRs and related interactive TV technologies as tools to engage viewers in unique conversations.
-- McKinney

As a higher order benefit to owning a Bravia TV, the creative premise of the Hi-Def for Men AND Women isn’t exactly compelling. Entertaining, certainly. And the site does a fine job of doing just that. The spoof trailer up front is well done, albeit framed between two stiff Over the Shoulder shots in the foreground. The real fun lies in the alternate endings, which, while not universally well written or shot, are clever and compelling. Too bad they were linked amidst the “watch the commercials” links on the site rather than being front and center. I personally would’ve much rather gotten through the trailer spoof and to the bullet points for why men and women like the product AFTER the alt ending stuff-- but my guess is it was probably a client call. Either way, the site offers deep links to more product centric stuff, if you want to know that… but the real engagement here is in the alt_endings. Well done creative.
-- Alan Schulman, chief creative officer, Brand New World

Well, I admit I had unusually higher than normal expectations for this piece. After all it was earlier this year that I had the opportunity to review Fallon’s Sony Bravia Balls campaign, which ran across Europe, Australia, and New Zealand in the run-up to Christmas of last year. Perhaps it is an unfair comparison; however, this campaign dropped the ball in comparison.

This campaign touts that the Bravia is “The World’s First Television for Men and Women.” The piece features a background-story video along with a teaser commercial that has a choose-your-own-ending feature based either on endings for men or women. These endings felt forced and contrived-- they lacked the authenticity and emotion that I have come to expect from SONY.

Additionally, after clicking on a section that promises to tell you why Bravia is “The World’s First Television for Men and Women,” it highlights four primary features-- its Amazing Picture, Wider Viewing Angles, Broader Color Spectrum, and Slim Design with text. Am I missing something here? How can this be? Each of these features warrants at least an image, or a video, and maybe even an experience to demonstrate it.

Overall, I think this campaign missed the mark. It left me wanting more, a lot more. Perhaps Sony thinks that the Americans wouldn’t “get” the European campaign. On the positive side, it reinvigorated my interest in the pending release of the next Bravia commercial that you can track here. By the looks of it, I expect Sony’s true colors, or should I say “colours,” to shine.
-- Sean Connelly, founder, Refinery