Google Assistant vs. Amazon Alexa
For this week’s blog post, I decided to focus on the genre of AI, specifically smart assistants: Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa. Both of their most recent commercials aired a few days before Superbowl Sunday and already gained over millions of views.
Google Assistant - “Loretta”
Google’s ad was actually an in house production and was created and edited without the help of an external advertising agency or director. Of course making it a cheaper ad. This ad is also very Similar to their Parisian Love commercial which aired 10 years ago both of which were true stories. The man speaking is actually the 85 year old grandfather of a google employee who helped in creating the ad and Loretta, which is the title of the commercial is based on her grandmother
Objective: To promote Google’s goal to build products that can help people in their daily lives in both big and small ways
Insight: We all need a little help sometimes especially as we age. The use of real life people/story of an old man needing to be reminded of small things about his late wife is a good example of when Google can Assist.
Promise: Help us remember the little things
Tone: Tear Jerking, Sentimental, Nostalgic
What I Liked:
Simple execution
Product was in the entire commercial
Use of real life people/story
Not once did the video mention Google Assistant
I found it super interesting too that their ads transition and have some sort of story line of beginning middle and end. For example, Parisian love which aired 10 years ago consisted of someone finding love and getting married, after that, their second ad “Dear Sophie” consists of a Dad writing letters to his daughter and now it consists of an old couple.
Weaknesses:
Purpose could get lost in the story
Could create controversy
Strengths:
Emotional Impact
Strong story
Closing line
I feel like i was more invested in the actual story than the product. Not entirely sure if thats a good or bad thing.
Some problems that were brought up from some articles was that the ad was actually creepy because he’s feeding these personal details about his life to these search engines probably leading to ads about cruises to Alaska, funeral services, mustache trimmers, etc.. especially with all these privacy scandals coming up every now and then, a lot of viewers would have gotten creeped out with it too.
However, I think Google did an amazing job helping viewers ignore that aspect of Google assistant by making us feel this strong emotion. They did an amazing job convincing us that we could give up a little privacy to be able to see all that we get in return.
Amazon Alexa - “#BeforeAlexa”
As you can tell this ad is definitely more comedic than the Google ad. This ad was created by Amazon as well as Droga5 which is an ad agency based in New York and according to ad week, was the Superbowl’s most watched ad on Youtube. Probably also because it first aired on Ellen’s show.
The commercial basically suggests that Alexa has now taken over many of the jobs shown in the ad which were performed by people in the past. Now our Alexa, can do all those things.
Objective: To show the audience that everyone needs an Alexa. Make Alexa an integral part of your life
Insight: Everyone needs help performing tasks. Each generation had their own version of Alexa helping them. Our generation has all 7 versions in one.
Promise: Help make our daily lives easier, more convenient
Tone: Comedic, Satirical, Lighthearted, Fun
What I Liked
Clever montage
Tone
Tactic: use of celebrities - Ellen and wife Portia de Rossi as well as Jamie Demetriou from Amazon's hit show Fleabag.
Weakness:
Could give off the wrong message - Could give off message that people back then were stupid and that now rely on Alexa which could trigger some people but in a sense it also shows the truth
Strengths:
Creative concept
Clear message
Overall Thoughts
I personally liked Googles ad because its silence and simplicity made it loud and unique and it just really hit me emotionally for some reason. Yes it is kinda creepy that this thing could know all these facts about you, your memories and others could know it too but at the same time thats basically where our world is heading too. In the end, their goal is also to help us and I think this idea of an old man potentially having Alzheimers using Google assistant to remember those small things is just so strong. It really plays with the emotions
But at the same time, I would say in terms of the message, Amazon did an amazing job of conveying their message that Alexa is a necessity.
Google showed that they know how to understand us, how to help us with the sentimental things whereas amazon can help us with physical tasks and is good at selling us stuff.
I loved Google’s ad but they didn’t sell me the product, they sold me the story.