• by Aaron Baar , June 9, 2010

The sun -- as in the star that gives us warmth and light -- visits Sony's Innovation Center in a new television commercial promoting the company's Internet device, Dash.

In the commercial, the sun -- represented as a suit-wearing man of flames -- is impressed by the Dash and its ability to give people exactly what they want when they wake up in the morning (such as headlines, weather, music) directly from the Internet. However, when the sun pats an employee on the shoulder in congratulations, he inadvertently sets the employee's arm on fire. Twice. A voiceover introduces the product and then encourages, "Wake up in a whole new way."

"[The Sun] is the expert on all things morning and waking people up, and with this segment, we're highlighting Dash's ability to create a whole new kind of wake-up experience," wrote a company representative in response to e-mailed questions from Marketing Daily about the campaign. "With access to various online music and video sites including Pandora and Slacker Internet Radio and Sony's Bravia Internet Video Link, the Dash can create a variety of unique, fun and entertaining alarms."

When the Dash initially became available in late April, Sony was mum about marketing plans for the device, saying it would be featured on "The Dr. Oz Show" and "The Martha Stewart Show," on CNBC programming, and make appearances in music videos from Sony Music artists. The Sony representative would not comment on other marketing initiatives for the Dash.

The commercial is running in major markets such as San Francisco and Washington, D.C. in early June to take advantage of Father's Day, the representative said.