Toshiba is one of the larger purveyors of technology gear like computers and TVs. The company has put together a new TV commercial that has to be one of the coolest and most innovative commercials ever seen to show off its REGZA SV LCD TV.
The commercial is called “Space Chair” and follows the journey of a single armchair that is tied to a balloon and lofted to the edge of space at 98,268 feet. The trek to the lofty altitude took 83 minutes and the fall back to Earth took the chair 24 minutes. The tag line is very ingenious — Armchair viewing redefined.
Engadget reports that the commercial was filmed with a Toshiba IK-HR1S ultra compact 1080i camcorder and the balloon was launched from the Black Rock desert in Nevada. The temperature at 52,037 was -90 degrees. The chair setup had to meet FAA regulations meaning that the entire camera, chair and balloon rig had to weigh less than four pounds. The chair was constructed of biodegradable balsa wood to be light enough to meet regulations and make the journey to the edge of space.
The balloon and chair rig were also fitted with four different GPS systems to accurately record its height at any second to within four meters in altitude and within 30 cm in longitude and latitude position. Positional information was sent to the ground team every 15 seconds so that the team could locate the camera rig at the end of its journey.
Matt McDowell, Marketing Director at Toshiba UK comments: “Our aim was to create a new advertising campaign that would bring to life Toshiba’s brand philosophy of leading innovation. We chose to send a chair on the journey as it is central to the user’s experience of Toshiba’s products; whether they are watching TV or using a laptop.”
A second “execution” of the commercial will be shown for the Satellite T Series of laptops. Exactly what that means is unclear. Presumably, there is footage of the balloon and camera coming back to earth as the chair falls and breaks apart. Perhaps the second part of the commercial will be the chair coming back to Earth.
The commercial was shot by cinematographer Haris Zambarloukos.
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