Some Japanese companies are known for making really clever commercials, others are known for making some really dumb commercials (looking at you Sony).
Mobile carrier au (pronounced “A-U”) has proven itself a part of the former camp with its fantastic new commercial, “FULL CONTROL/Xmas”, which shows what Tokyo might look like if it were turned into one giant night club.
The commercial advertises au’s new 4G LTE high-speed wireless communication service. 4G LTE is designed to provide up to 10x the speeds of 3G mobile networks and AU plans to have the service available to 98% of Japan by March 2013.
The advertising campaign for the service is called “Making surprise the standard”, and the commercial takes a look at what might happen if we could control the sights and sounds of our cities with our smartphones. Somehow we doubt that reality would be as inspiring a picture as the one this commercial paints— I know the first thing I would do with this technology is Rickroll Shibuya Crossing— but it’s still a sweet 60 second clip.
And in case you were wondering, no, they didn’t actually fly a giant disco hot air balloon over Tokyo— though it’s not exactly CG, either. According to the video description, an actual hot air balloon and search lights were used and it took nearly 20 hours in the studio to get the angels of the lights just right.
AU is also uploading a series of three videos showing how they made the commercial, the first of which you can check below (the other two haven’t been released at the time of this writing):
And here, we’ll embed the video below again in case you want to, you know, watch it one more time.
[ Read in Japanese ]


Will It Vend? Step Aside, Baristas! Vending Machine Grinds Beans And Makes Drink For You
3 Bizarre Part-time Jobs in Japan: Man-Boy for AV, Balloon Watcher, and Fake Wedding Guest
Under Its au Brand, Japanese Cellular Service Provider KDDI Unveils World’s Largest and Highest Resolution Smartphone
New Playstation 3 Commercial Packs a Nasty Little Surprise, Small Children Now Wary of Plastic Boxes
Onomatotastic! Sony’s Portable Games Console Gets a Cool New Ad 【Video】
Ranking of Taxi Fares Around the World – Japanese Passengers Getting Hosed, Even More So Next Year
There’s a Sailor Moon in my Coffee! Photos and Tips From a Japanese Manga Latte Artist
Ukraine’s Anime Girl and Real Barbie Meet Face to Eerie Face!
Tokyo Metro Manner Posters Confuse and Delight Foreign Passengers 【Photo Gallery】
The Best of the Best of Manga: Shonen Jump’s 20 Best Sellers of All-Time
Oozing up From Below, Mysterious Marshmallow-like Substance Covers Nanjing Street
Beautiful Cosplay Girl is Actually Nerdy Guy
Disney Villains Clean Up Well, Wow Japan
Saudi Arabian Reporter Floored by Things Japanese Take for Granted
The Ten Most Beautiful Tunnels in the World and Where You Can Find Them
We Made Coca-Cola Transparent and Colorless. It Tastes Like…
Chinese Woman on Trial for Killing Man by Squeezing His Scrotum
Crime of Passion: Three Men Forcibly Deported from Saudi Arabia for Being “Too Handsome”
Real-Life Barbie Gives Her Friends and Family a Makeover, Turns Them into Dolls
Peenzilla Worship! Japan’s Kanamara Festival Coming Up this April!
Chinese Student’s Bicycle Seat Breaks and… Gyah!
Toyota Japan’s Sexy New Topless Ad Shocks Viewers
“Damned if we lose!” Honda Sends Declaration to Competitors and Urges Japan Forward In New Commercial
It’s a Wonderful Disney Life! Beautifully animated Japanese TV commercial receives critical acclaim from around the world
Fox Sports ‘Foul Ball Armor’ Papercraft Helmet Takes Five Hours to Build, Might be Effective at Your Little Brother’s Wiffleball Game
Spanish Commercial Attempts the Impossible and Creates Live Action Doraemon… We Think
Get in the Halloween Spirit Zombie Hand Smartphone Stand
New Candy Commercial Featuring an Infantized AKB48 Hits a 9 on the Creepy Meter
Sony Warns Not to Put Your Gaming Console in the Microwave, Leaves Online Community Dumbfounded
Pepsimaaan! How Japan’s Thirst-Quenching Superhero Started a Bottle Cap Figurine Craze
Philip Kendall
Steven Simonitch
Master Blaster
Kay
Michelle Lynn Dinh
Jessica Ocheltree
Leave a Reply