''Ball Bearing'' was a 1992 television advertisement for the

Lexus ES 300 The Lexus ES is a series of mid-size executive cars marketed since 1989 by Lexus, the luxury division of Toyota, across multiple generations, each offering V6 engines and a front-engine, front-wheel-drive layout. The first five generations of ...

, which introduced the luxury sedan to American television audiences. It was created by Team One, a unit of

Saatchi & Saatchi Saatchi and Saatchi is a British multinational communications and advertising agency network with 114 offices in 76 countries and over 6,500 staff. It was founded in 1970 and is currently headquartered in London. The parent company of the agency ...

. The advertisement showed a

ball bearing A ball bearing is a type of rolling-element bearing that uses balls to maintain the separation between the bearing races. The purpose of a ball bearing is to reduce rotational friction and support radial and axial loads. It achieves this ...

rolling smoothly down the panel seams of a

Lexus is the luxury vehicle division of the Japanese automaker Toyota, Toyota Motor Corporation. The Lexus brand is marketed in more than 90 countries and territories worldwide and is Japan's largest-selling make of premium cars. It has ranked amon ...

sedan, thus demonstrating the precise

quality Quality may refer to: Concepts *Quality (business), the ''non-inferiority'' or ''superiority'' of something *Quality (philosophy), an attribute or a property *Quality (physics), in response theory *Energy quality, used in various science discipli ...

of its exterior elements. The television spot won awards, was emulated by subsequent commercials, and was credited for focusing industry attention on body tolerances.Jackson, Richard F. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Perspectives on the Future of Manufacturing Engineering
/ref>

Synopsis

The advertisement showed the Lexus ES 300 on an articulating stand. A lab-suited technician places a silver

on the hood seam, and lets go. The ball bearing rolls smoothly down the seam as if on a track. As the stand rotates, moving the ES 300 slowly around several axes, the ball bearing travels across the roof,

grille Grill or grille may refer to: Food * Barbecue grill, a device or surface used for cooking food, usually fuelled by gas or charcoal, or the part of a cooker that performs this function * Flattop grill, a cooking device often used in restaurants, ...

, tail lamps, in a continuous uninterrupted motion, without falling. The narration reads, "Every sports sedan is supposed to do well in the fast lane. But what about these lanes...? At Lexus, we achieved extremely tight tolerances between all major body panels. So not only does the ES 300 look like it's put together well, it actually ''is'' put together well."

Reception

The advertisement received a

Clio Award The Clio Awards, also simply known as The Clios, is an annual award program that recognizes innovation and creative excellence in advertising, design, and communication, as judged by an international panel of advertising professionals. The awar ...

for Best Special Effects in a Television Advertisement, awarded to Special Effects director John Frazier of Fxperts Inc. ''Ball Bearing'' was named one of its Best Spots of 1992 by industry publication '' Adweek''. The

National Institute of Standards and Technology The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is an agency of the United States Department of Commerce whose mission is to promote American innovation and industrial competitiveness. NIST's activities are organized into Outline of p ...

in the United States, as part of its Advanced Technology Project (an awards program for the development of high-risk, early-stage technologies for the U.S. industry), worked with

General Motors General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. The company is most known for owning and manufacturing f ...

Chrysler FCA US, LLC, Trade name, doing business as Stellantis North America and known historically as Chrysler ( ), is one of the "Big Three (automobile manufacturers), Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn H ...

, two universities, and suppliers on the "2-millimeter project." The goal of this project was to develop a new standard for automotive body dimension control, with a goal being to be able to duplicate the Lexus ball bearing test on a U.S.-built car. The advertisement was credited with focusing attention on quality in the United States.

Later versions

Other advertisers referenced ''Ball Bearing'' in subsequent commercials,PBS Frontline: merchants of cool: douglas rushkoff: coercion
/ref> including car manufacturer

Nissan is a Japanese multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer headquartered in Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan. The company sells its vehicles under the ''Nissan'' and ''Infiniti'' brands, and formerly the ''Datsun'' brand, with in-house ...

who duplicated the ball bearing test and other Lexus displays in subsequent ads.Robert Goldman, Stephen Papson. ''Sign Wars: The Cluttered Landscape of Advertising''. Guilford Press, 1996 , p. 34 The Nissan ads, designed for the debut of the

Nissan Altima The Nissan Altima is a mid-size car manufactured by Nissan since 1992. It is a continuation of the Nissan Bluebird line, which began in 1955. The Altima has historically been larger, more powerful, and more luxurious than the Nissan Sentra b ...

in 1993, demonstrated a similar display of ball bearings on their less expensive vehicle, with a narrator saying, "When we at Nissan saw Lexus do a test like this to show how well their car was put together, we were impressed, so we decided to do the same test on the new $13,000 Nissan Altima." In 1993,

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') is an American Late night television in the United States, late-night live television, live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC. The ...

parodied the sequence in a mock commercial for the Chameleon XLE, a fictitious luxury car whose exterior looks deceptively like that of an abandoned vehicle in order to ward off potential thieves. In the ad, the ball is placed on the car's rusted, dented, and faded front left fender and falls through a rust hole in the hood. It then comes out the car's right front wheel well. The ad stars

Phil Hartman Philip Edward Hartman (; September 24, 1948 – May 28, 1998) was a Canadian-American comedian, actor, screenwriter and graphic designer. Hartman was born in Brantford, Ontario, and his family moved to the United States when he w ...

. A

Roy Rogers Roy Rogers (born Leonard Franklin Slye; November 5, 1911 – July 6, 1998), nicknamed the King of the Cowboys, was an American singer, actor, television host, and Rodeo, rodeo performer. Following early work under his given name, first as a c ...

ad also parodied the ''Ball Bearing'' spot by rolling a ball bearing around the edge of a

roast beef Roast beef is a dish of beef that is roasted, generally served as the main dish of meal. In the Anglosphere, roast beef is one of the meats often served at Sunday lunch or dinner. Yorkshire pudding is a standard side dish. Sliced roast beef ...

sandwich. The Roy Rogers ad went on to win an

Addy Award Addy may refer to: *Addy (surname) *Addy, Washington, US, an unincorporated community *Addy Awards, advertising competition *Zack Addy, fictional character in the television series ''Bones'' *Addy Walker, a doll from the American Girl series *Adde ...

on behalf of the Smithsonian Center for Advertising History. In 1995,

Dirt Devil Dirt Devil is a brand name originally introduced in 1981 by the Royal Appliance Manufacturing Co, an American vacuum cleaner and floor care company. The company and the brand are now owned by TTI Floor Care North America, a subsidiary of Hong K ...

also parodied the ''Ball Bearing'' spot by rolling a ball bearing around the body of its MVP upright vacuum cleaner. In 2008, Lexus again referenced ''Ball Bearing'' with a new version for the Lexus IS 250 AWD, which showed a ball bearing rolling on the seams of the vehicle before the car is driven across a sea of ball bearings.Lexus IS Ball Bearing
/ref>

Credits

* Agency: Team One, El Segundo, California * Creative Director: Tom Cordner * Agency Director: Mike Mazza * Copy Writer: Steve Silver * Agency Producer: Francesca Cohn * Production Company: Sandbank Films * Director: Henry Sandbank * Editor: Stuart Waks, Stuart Waks & Co. * SFX Producer: John Frazier * Music: MachineHead: * Narrator: James Sloyan * Production Design: Michael Gaw

References

External links

The Ball Bearing ad on YouTube

Profile and credits on Adweek
{Dead link, date=June 2019 , bot=InternetArchiveBot , fix-attempted=yes

Ball Bearing IS (Lexus), related ad on YouTube

Altima (Nissan) follow-up ad on YouTube
Lexus Advertising campaigns 1992 works American television commercials

advertisement Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a Product (business), product or Service (economics), service. Advertising aims to present a product or service in terms of utility, advantages, and qualities of int ...

1990s television commercials