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

Lexus ES 300 The 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 the ES use ...

, which introduced the luxury sedan to American television audiences. It was created by Team One, a unit of Saatchi & Saatchi. 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 sedan, thus demonstrating the precise quality 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 The lighting system of a motor vehicle consists of lighting and signalling devices mounted to or integrated into the front, rear, sides, and in some cases the top of a motor vehicle. They illuminate the road ahead for the driver and increase th ...

, 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 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 ''Adweek'' is a weekly American advertising trade publication that was first published in 1979. ''Adweek'' covers creativity, client–agency relationships, global advertising, accounts in review, and new campaigns. During this time, it has cover ...

''. 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 physical sci ...

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 The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...

Chrysler Stellantis North America (officially FCA US and formerly Chrysler ()) is one of the " Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan. It is the American subsidiary of the multinational automoti ...

, 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 , trade name, trading as Nissan Motor Corporation and often shortened to Nissan, is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer headquartered in Nishi-ku, Yokohama, Japan. The company sells ...

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 that has been 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 Nissa ...

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'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves a ...

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. A Roy Rogers ad also parodied the ''Ball Bearing'' spot by rolling a ball bearing around the edge of a roast beef sandwich. The Roy Rogers ad went on to win an

Addy Award The American Advertising Federation (AAF), headquartered in Washington, D.C., is the oldest national advertising trade association in the United States. The AAF also has 15 district operations, each located in and representing a different region o ...

on behalf of the Smithsonian Center for Advertising History. In 1995, Dirt Devil 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 The is a compact executive car sold by Lexus, a luxury division of Toyota since 1999. The IS was originally sold under the nameplate in Japan from 1998 (the word ''Altezza'' is Italian for 'height' or 'highness'). The IS was introduced as an e ...

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 or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...

1990s television commercials