Why We Loved Amazon’s Celebrity-Studded Super Bowl Ad
Ah, the Super Bowl – one of the most watched football games of the year. For diehard NFL fans and casual spectators, it’s undeniably the most exciting event of the season. But the game isn’t the only reason to tune in. More and more, the ads that air during the Super Bowl are stealing the show. Companies spend months and millions of dollars carefully crafting their Super Bowl spots in the hope of going viral online. In the hours and days following the event, thousands of people flock to YouTube just to binge-watch the best ads.
This year, there were certainly some quality ads. We can always count on Budweiser for a good story about good beer. There was a thrilling ad from Netflix about their new series The Cloverfield Paradox, which ended with a surprise debut of the entire series online. And of course, there was the genius joint ad from Doritos and Mountain Dew, which featured a lip-sync rap battle between Peter Dinklage and Morgan Freeman.
But our favorite ad of the night starred our girl Alexa, Amazon‘s personified, cloud-based voice service.
The commercial begins with Alexa talking to a woman who asked about the weather. Suddenly, Alexa loses her voice. A crisis ensues, but Amazon quickly calls in some celebrity backups to replace her. The commercial imagines chef Gordon Ramsey, rapper Cardi B, comedian Rebel Wilson, and actor Anthony Hopkins as Alexa’s replacements. As each celebrity tries and fails to field customer queries, their beloved personalities shine through. In the end, Alexa’s voice recovers and she resumes her duties.
Amazon’s Super Bowl ad proves their marketing team is keeping a close eye on fans and customers. In many ways, the ad is a response to the meme-ification of Alexa’s all-too-recognizable voice and attitude. This YouTube skit, titled “If Alexa Was Southern” is a good example of the fandubs people have been making using older Alexa commercials. Amazon’s cheeky, celebrity-studded Super Bowl ad basically upped the ante on these popular fandubs.
Some media outlets are speculating the ad was a teaser for new voices Amazon may be introducing for Alexa. But even if they’re wrong, we still think the campaign was a smashing success.
Catch the rest of the best Super Bowl LII advertisements here.
