A GIGANTIC BALL OF YARN HAS BEEN ROLLING AROUND SAN FRANCISCO. The ball is also distinct for the pair of sneakers sticking out of it.
There’s even an accompanying YouTube video, which is where Miss Jo first spotted the red blob. She enjoyed watching the comical ball roll down some pretty steep hills and a long cement staircase. As it starts to unravel down the slopes of Dolores Park, its contents tumbles out: a dude in jeans and t-shirt, wearing a helmet and red-rimmed sunglasses.
Miss Jo wondered what avant-garde meaning she was missing.
Knitting together clues to solve the mystery took one Google search . The yarn ball’s unspoken message: buy Ray Ban’s new Colorized sunglasses, $110-$140, in a traditional squarish frame. The video was made by Never Hide Films, Ray Ban’s viral marketing division, which has come up with all sorts of non-advertising to create buzz to sell shades.
Sales could use a lift. Luxottica Group, the Italian eye glass company that owns Ray Ban, reported a 22.5 percent drop in first-quarter net profit to 80.4 million euros, or $104.5 million U.S. In addition to owning the eyeglass licenses for Donna Karan, Prada, Chanel and other designers, Luxottica owns Sunglass Hut and Pearle Eyevision eyeglass retail chains.
It seems appropriate that as sales unravel during the recession, the company has turned to an unraveling yarn ball to increase sales. But maybe that’s the point: while you might have lost the sweater off your back in the last round of layoffs, you haven’t lost your ability to be cool— and hand over $140 for sunglasses to ensure your hipness.
What you can count on is iconic San Francisco as a popular backdrop for advertising, viral or otherwise. Miss Jo has seen Fed Ex workers filmed running through Union Square carrying delivery boxes and a swarm of motor scooters covered in red dots for Target buzzing through downtown. Soon after she moved to the City, the steep Fillmore Street hill in Pacific Heights was covered in 200 tonnes of snow on an 80-degree day for a Lake Tahoe ski jump promotion.
The Ray Ban ball also isn’t the first to bounce down San Francisco streets. Three years ago Sony filmed a commercial using hundreds of super bouncing balls.
Here are both videos: