What Used to Happen Before Alexa: How Amazon Perfected the Art of Storytelling in Marketing
As marketers, we are always searching for that elusive moment when advertising stops being about the product and starts being about the story—the moment when a brand connects with the audience on a level that transcends the tangible and speaks to something deeper. Amazon's "Before Alexa" campaign, aired during the Super Bowl, is precisely that kind of advertising.
In a world overflowing with products and technologies competing for attention, Amazon did something rare. It didn’t sell Alexa. It told a story. And that, my friends, is what truly makes this campaign one for the books.
Amazon’s Super Bowl spot opens with a simple question: What did people do before Alexa?
We are then transported through time, each scene more comically absurd than the last, from royal courtiers struggling with scrolls, to Victorian butlers trying to adjust the temperature by hand, to 20th-century couples desperately trying to control their environment without a voice assistant.
The humor in this commercial isn’t about technology; it’s about the human condition. We’ve always wanted simplicity, efficiency, and control over our surroundings. What Alexa provides is merely the modern-day answer to a need that’s been around for centuries. And Amazon beautifully connects this human desire with humor and historical context.
It’s not just an ad; it’s a history lesson, with Alexa as the modern-day hero who solves problems that have plagued humanity for centuries.
1. Humor That Speaks to the Masses
Humor is the most effective tool in advertising when it’s used to highlight something universally relatable. Amazon’s campaign didn’t rely on tech jargon or complex product explanations. It tapped into something we all understand—the frustration of dealing with tasks that should be simple. The humor was timeless, appealing to all ages, because it’s a human story.
2. The Power of Story Over Product
What Amazon proved is that the story comes first. The product is secondary. In a world full of voice assistants, Amazon knew that simply listing features would not cut through the noise. Instead, they told a story about the human need for convenience and simplicity, and then showed how Alexa answered that call. By putting storytelling at the heart of the ad, they made Alexa feel like a solution to a deep-rooted human problem.
3. Celebrity Endorsements: Smart, Not Overpowering
Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi played pivotal roles in this campaign. Their celebrity appeal was used sparingly, not to overshadow the product, but to add a relatable, modern touch to a campaign that spanned centuries. This approach reinforced the message: Alexa is for everyone, from royals to ordinary folks.
4. A Memorable, Shareable Message
The true magic of this campaign is that it doesn’t just make you smile in the moment—it makes you talk about it. It’s shareable, it’s memorable, and it does what all great ads should do: it gets under your skin and stays there. And isn’t that the goal of all great advertising?
The success of Amazon’s "Before Alexa" campaign isn’t just in its humor or historical references; it lies in its deep understanding of human behavior. Great advertising doesn't push the product. It speaks to something universal. It tells a story we can all relate to, making us feel like the product was always meant to be part of the solution.