Sony is serving up the first ever trials of 4K television in the UK at the start of the Wimbledon championships today. To help get its point across, the Japanese company has enlisted the help of British female tennis star Anne Keothavong, who will sport microscopic advertisements printed onto her shoelaces and fingernails in order to show off just how high super-high resolution can go.
The teensy weensy adverts plastered onto Keothavong have been made using a technique known as ‘microtising’, an invented word that Sony says is a hybrid of microscopic and advertising. The idea behind the micro-ads is that viewers will get a sense of just how detailed 4K resolution really is, and why every single detail matters.
Keothavong will be wearing microtising on her fingernails, the hem of her skirt, her shoelaces and her tennis racket as she bids to reach the second round of Wimbledon for the first time under the glare of Sony’s F55 and NEX-FS700 4K cameras. And whilst Sony isn’t expected to be broadcasting any of the action, those who attend Wimbledon will be able to study Keothavong up close and try to spot the ads at a special Sony 4K Experience centre that’s been set up for the occasion. As to what brands Keothavong will actually be advertising, Sony hasn’t given this away so viewers will have to try and spot them themselves.
Paul Gyles, Marketing Head of Sony Televisions, revealed the inspiration for the ‘microtising’ campaign in a prepared statement:
“As we generate more native 4K footage, viewers are going to notice every single detail and feel as if they’re much closer to the action. We thought we’d stretch this to the boundaries of what’s possible by running a microtising campaign, which proves that Sony’s 4K TVs are capable of picking up on the smallest details.”
The Wimbledon 4K trials are part of a big push by Sony to popularize the new super-high resolution display tech. In addition to filming the tennis, it’s also carrying out a similar experiment at the FIFA Confederations Cup in Brazil, while earlier this year it announced the world’s first 4K remastering studio at its Colorworks facility in Hollywood. Moreover, the two 4K trials coincide with the arrival of Sony’s new 55-inch and 65-inch X9 Bravia’s, which are said to be the first ‘affordable’ 4K resolution TVs to hit the mass market.
