Last month we asked you to tell us a story about your favorite Sony product and were more than pleasantly surprised with the results. We never expected to receive such an outpouring of responses and to hear such high quality stories. As we read through all the submissions, our team was touched by the passion you all have for our products. We were inspired to read about Darell, the 87-year-old who was declared legally blind and who is reading again thanks to her E-reader. We laughed when we watched Bret’s video about how he uses his Cyber-shot® camera to take pictures of himself jumping in the air all over the world. And we smiled when we heard Ryan’s story about how his family bonds while watching cricket on their BRAVIA® TV. With so many great stories, it quickly became apparent that choosing a winner would be no easy task.
To decide on our winners, myself and 6 other Sony judges combed through more than 650 entries in search of the one that was the most original, creative, clear and impactful. After much internal discussion (and lots of reading!) we landed on a winner. Michael Howard, from Littleton CO, told a simple yet powerful story about how his Sony products helped him capture a memory that he thought he would miss. The pride he has for his daughter emanated from his words and resonated with us all. We couldn’t help but think – this is what technology is all about – capturing memories, making lives easier, and connecting families. Because he can tell his story better than I, I’ll let you read for yourselves the entry that won him a spot in our next TV commercial:
My daughter is a very talented singer and pianist. When she was young, like most children, she performed for her school in talent shows, holiday programs, etc. As a father I am expected to attend and I really, really enjoy attending to see my talented wonderful children perform and see the looks of joy on their faces afterwards.
One holiday season work was going badly. I was needed to stay late the night of the performance. I finished up with just enough time to get to the school. In anticipation of the performance I had decided to retire my older bulky Super 8mm w/ 20x zoom camcorder and purchased a Sony Handycam® Mini-DVD with 40x zoom.
I arrived just in time but it was standing room only in the very back of the auditorium. I could barely tell which was my daughter. I fired up the camcorder and steadied myself against the door frame and zoomed in. It was as if I was in the front row. I could see and hear her perfectly. I recorded my daughter and her friends and got a perfect close up for her solo.
Afterwards we went home and viewed the recording on my 50″ Sony Wega® TV. The images were sharp and sound re-creation of her singing was crystal clear. Oohs and Ahhs were all around and the look of pride and happiness on my daughters face melted my heart. Thanks Sony for making my daughter a princess and creating a priceless memory that I can share.
As for the rest of the stories, we aren’t done with them yet. There are too many priceless anecdotes to simply retire the page and move on. Instead, we’ve decided to expand on the idea of story-telling and are in the process of creating an Ambassador program through which we can continue to reward those who are our biggest supporters. As we iron out the details, we’ll keep you informed.
We’ll also be back here in a couple of weeks with some behind the scenes footage on the filming of Michael’s commercial and with the names of our other four finalists. In the meantime, if there is anything you want to ask Michael about his experience being in a Sony commercial, feel free to leave it in the comments and we’ll ask him when we interview him next week.