Merkle B2B | Agency Profile, Contacts, AOR, Client Relationships

See Winmo sales intelligence in action

Male Opps: Amazon Alexa launches new campaign amid spend increase

Hey, Alexa, play Amazon.com and UK ad agency Lucky Generals, "Mind Reader" also explores the potential negative side of such technology; you could accidentally tell someone they have bad breath, out the lack of kitchen skills a dinner party host might have, etc. The spot is live from February 7 and will make its debut during the Super Bowl LVI on February 13. I expect Super Bowl ad dollars are all accounted for at this point, but sellers should still get in touch to secure last-minute ad dollars for the continuation of this campaign beyond the big game.

In 2021, Pathmatics reports that Amazon promoted the Alexa and the Echo via digital channels with roughly $40.7m, up 19% from the roughly $34.1m it spent in 2020. The brands earned around 4b digital impressions in 2021 via desktop video (52%), Instagram (27%), Facebook (10%), desktop display (5%), mobile video (2%), Twitter (2%) and mobile display (2%) ads. Most (93%) of the past year's desktop video ads were placed site direct onto youtube.com and hulu.com.

Additionally, per Magellan, Amazon has promoted Alexa with seven podcast ads within the past 12 months. 

The brand itself seems to be primarily targeting Gen-Z and millennials among whom the aforementioned brand partners are particularly popular. Right now, Alexa is targeting this specific audience via digital channels such as paid social, YouTube, Hulu and podcast ads. The usage of a Super Bowl ad shows Alexa is particularly targeting male sports enthusiasts. According to Kantar data, Alexa also invests in local broadcast. The brand holds planning conversations in Q1 and buying conversations in Q4.

Agency & martech readers - Amazon doesn't currently show glaring signs that it'll seek new agency partners for Alexa anytime soon, but you may be able to work with the company on a project-by-project basis. Along with the aforementioned agency, Amazon currently works with creative AOR Initiative. It also has in-house creative and media teams.