Sony Visualises Thirty-Five Years of TV And Blade Runner in Intriguing New Ad

To coincide with the eagerly anticipated release of Blade Runner 2049, Sony and Dentsu Japan take viewers on an uber stylish Blade Runner nostalgia trip from the 1982 to 2017 in its latest commercial to promote Bravia televisions. 

Taking us through chintzy glory of the early '80s – in both home and fashion design – to the height of style in 2017, we see scenes that emanate the eccentric eclecticism we see in the original Blade Runner films. Sony’s tech prominence throughout history is asserted as the set of each period is equipped with the latest tech of the time.  

The ad was shot in Spain and directed by Edu Vieitez in custom built sets that would allow the commercial to sweep smoothly from decade to decade. The time-hopping commercial begins by taking viewers back in time to a living room set in the 1980’s as a group gather to watch the original Blade Runner film. The ad transitions into 2005, where another group watch the original classic, shot in 1982 and set in 2017, with just as much excitement. The journey ends in the present day with the latest Bravia showing the trailer for Blade Runner 2049. 

The interplay of Sony’s film licencing and their TV project is following a rising trend for organisations and their partners to use feature films to promote their other brands and products. Manchester United have partnered several times with Twentieth Century Fox to promote their team around the launch of feature films including, X Men: Apocalypse and, most recently, Kingsman: The Golden Circle.  We can’t also forget native content like the Lego Movie and Sundance film festival favourite, Werner Herzog’s Lo and Behold, Reveries of the Connected World.

PSN Spain and GunsRock co-produced the ad and constructed all the sets in Spain. They completed all of the production design including art, wardrobe and sourcing the vintage Bravias as well as other Sony products like walkmans and mobile phones to create authentic sets for each era. 

The commercial runs online from 03rd October and on Japanese TV around the feature film’s promotion and cinema release.