06 February 2018
Amazon has won the USA Today's Ad Meter for best 2018 Superbowl ad with its celebrity-stacked "Alexa loses her voice" plot.
Meanwhile the Australian edition of Alexa-powered Amazon Echo speakers are available this week.
1st Place: Amazon Alexa
Alexa, Amazon's voice-enabled virtual assistant, loses her voice. Luckily there are some special candidates on hand to fill in for her. The Superbowl advert features cameos from:
- Gordon Ramsay
- Rebel Wilson
- Cardi B
- Sir Anthony Hopkins
Meanwhile Amazon's smart speakers arrive in Australia this week, and they do more than speak with an Aussie accent — they can also check your bank balance, spout footy trivia and order pizza.
Two months after launching its online store in Australia, Amazon is adding its smart speakers to its offering, launching three Echo devices powered by its intelligent personal assistant, Alexa. Amazon speakers dominate the market in the US, with more than 22 million sold last year according to Forrester.
The Australian-version will have plenty of local “skills”, helping users to check their bank balance, find a tradesperson, or order their favourite pizza. Amazon spent a year adapting the PA to deliver an Aussie accent, as well as adding cricket and AFL to its sports knowledge, the correct pronunciations of cities and towns, and the lyrics to Waltzing Matilda.The speakers also enable music playback, make to-do lists, setting alarms, stream podcasts, play audiobooks, and provide weather, traffic, and other real-time information, such as news.
2nd Place: The NFL
The NFL finished second in razor-close voting. Eli Manning and Odell Beckham Jr. staged a two-stepping touchdown celebration as a spot-on parody of the Patrick Swayze-Jennifer Grey dance scene from the 1987 movie Dirty Dancing.
3rd Place: Budweiser
Budweiser placed third with an ad about the company’s emergency water program, starring employees from the brewery in Cartersville, Ga. That’s where they make beer, of course, but also where they produce clean drinking water for communities hit by natural disasters. Over the past 30 years, the Cartersville site has helped to provide more than 79 million cans of clean drinking water in times of need.
4th Place: Doritos Blaze and Mountain Dew Ice
For the first time one company, Pepsico, advertised two of its trademarks in one Super Bowl commercial. The fire-and-ice showdown was a lip-sync rap battle between Peter Dinklage and Morgan Freeman.
5th Place: Toyota
Toyota was fifth with the first ad in its history that featured no cars. The commercial centered on the heartwarming story of Lauren Woolstencroft, a Paralympian born with no legs below the knee and no left arm below the elbow. Toyota’s ad is part of campaign to spread word about its evolution into what it calls a mobility company.
Related Blogs
- Why Australian business should not be afraid of Amazon
- Amazon Australia sends "let's make history" email
- eBook: What to do when management says: cut mobility costs
- Gartner awards global recognition to VoicePlus Atrium Managed Mobility Service
3 Strategies to Reduce Telecom Cost