What happens if Alexa cannot answer? Amazon’s answer, in its 2018 Super Bowl spot, was to let famous people try. A man asks for a grilled cheese recipe and gets a scolding from chef Gordon Ramsay. A dinner party asking to set the mood gets a suggestive answer from Rebel Wilson. A woman asking Alexa to call Brandon reaches Anthony Hopkins instead. Cardi B also appears in the 90-second film.
The agency was Lucky Generals. The idea took the product’s main strength, a helpful voice that just works, and showed it by taking it away. In the days before the game, Amazon built anticipation with a teaser in which Alexa coughed and “lost her voice,” and it released shorter 30-second spots with Leslie Jones, JB Smoove and Rebel Wilson.
One source reports that it was the most-viewed Super Bowl ad on YouTube in 2018. The Drum later ranked it among the world’s best ads. It also shows a common advertising trick: a product is easiest to explain when the ad imagines life without it.
For more game-day stories, see our roundup of Super Bowl ads.
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