Alexa loses her voice

Amazon Super Bowl Commercial

Report (Syed Hassan Ali)

Components of advertising

There are a total of five components of advertising which are as follows:

1. Strategy

2. Message

3. Execution

4. Media

5. Evaluation

Strategy refers to the logic and planning that goes behind an advert highlighting the core

objective of the ad. Message refers to the central idea that grabs the attention of consumers.

Execution refers to how the advert is made (photography, writing, acting, setting, background,

music etc.). Media refers to the communication channels that reach a broad audience (for whom

you made the ad). There are different forms of media, mainly print, broadcast, outdoor, and

digital media. Finally, Evaluation refers to evaluating whether you have achieved your

objectives or not. Effective ads must meet their desired objectives.

When we discuss the overall strategy behind Amazon’s Super Bowl ad campaign titled “Alexa

loses her voice”, till this day no one could truly figure out what the company was trying to

convey through the commercial. While most people viewed it as a goofy, star-studded affair,
featuring some of the most famous celebrities in the world like chef Gordon Ramsay, Oscar

winning actor Sir Anthony Hopkins, musical artist Cardi B and others who were used in the ad as

celebrity endorsers who played the role of the A.I Alexa after it initially lost its voice in the

beginning of the ad and provided great humor through –out the ad. Others thought that the ad

was trying to convey a greater and a deeper message- perhaps the fact that maybe Amazon was

hinting at something bigger, or simply finding a way to get the Echo Spot in front of a lot more

American eyeballs, with help from Hannibal Lector himself. People thought that maybe Amazon

was trying to promote those glowing blue Echo headsets in the ad which were worn by the

aforementioned celebrities since the company was aiming to bring back technology to wearable’s

like headphones and smart watches but the company shot down this theory stating that those

headsets were just a fun prop used in the ad and nothing more. Therefore, most probably in my

opinion I think the company’s main motive behind the ad was to ensure that a large number of

consumers view their advert and retain the content of the ad through the use of humor and

various celebrities and would be reminded about amazon’s flagship product: Alexa. The

campaign also aimed to introduce Amazon’s new “Echo spot” product to consumers.

The message of the ad is fairly straightforward- Amazon’s A.I (Alexa) loses its voice mid-way of

providing the latest weather update to a female and news headlines begin to appear showing that

Alexa lost its voice and how it’s a big blow for Amazon so in order to counteract this problem-

Amazon uses various celebrities to play the role of Alexa as a replacement until finally towards

the end of the ad- Alexa gets its voice back and says: “I’ll take it from here”.

As far as the execution of the ad is concerned, the writing of the ad is focused on delivering

humor while great acting chops are exhibited by Gordon Ramsay, Cardi B, and Anthony

Hopkins since they delivered their lines with great comic relief. Various backgrounds and
settings were used for the celebrities who were all shown in different geographical areas

(Ramsay is shown exercising near a swimming pool, Cardi B is shown delivering her lines in a

room full of wardrobe, and Hopkins is shown sitting a peaceful garden surrounded by peacocks

and delivering his lines sitting comfortably on a chair in a Hannibal Lector kind of way). The

musical tone also shifts through-out the ad as every new celebrity shows up.

For Media, this ad was broadcasted on televisions across the entire U.S during half time of the

Super Bowl so it was watched by millions of people and the ad actually broke a record by

becoming 2018’s most viewed ad on Youtube with a whopping 50.1 million views on the

website.

When you look at the overall reception the ad received: critical praise in regards to people

enjoying the celebrity involvement and the comedic elements in the ad and the commercial

success of the ad (becoming 2018’s most viewed ad on Youtube with millions of views), it’s safe

to say that Amazon successfully achieved their goal of producing an ad that a large number of

consumers will view and remember for a long time but most importantly will remind them about

Amazon’s flagship product: Alexa and also informed them about Amazon’s new “Echo spot”.

Brand Framework

Brand Framework is one of the key components of brand perception. Before launching a brand,

it’s vital to create a Brand Framework to guide your decisions. It defines what a brand stands for,

and acts as a guide to ensure all touch points with the market build on the brand. Brand

framework is also referred to as “Brand transformation” which is when a brand gives personality

and identity to a product that differentiates it from similar offerings in the market. Brand
transformation includes brand identity, brand image and personality, and brand promise &

positioning.

In the case of Amazon, the company used its Super Bowl ad campaign titled “Alexa loses her

voice” to apply the concept of brand transformation by exhibiting a distinct brand identity

through amazon’s distinct brand name and logos, by showing a distinct brand image and

personality (by creating a unique mental picture in the minds of consumers that will make them

associate alexa and echo spot with various celebrities and by associating the people you know

i.e. celebrities with the brand itself), and by delivering brand promise (By not exaggerating the

features of its product and showing that what you see is what you will get if you buy echo spot or

the alexa device). Finally, the company used its ad campaign to take advantage of brand

positioning by occupying a unique place in the minds of consumers relative to competitors with a

very innovative ad campaign.

References

1. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-6505407/Amazons-Alexa-loses-voice-

YouTubes-viewed-ad-2018.html

2. https://www.inverse.com/article/40939-super-bowl-amazon-alexa-ai-ad

3. https://techcrunch.com/2018/01/31/so-whats-up-with-amazons-alexa-super-bowl-ad/