New England Patriots QB Tom Brady and his coach Bill Belichick are going after their sixth NFL championship, but Jeff Bezos may very well be the subject of Monday water-cooler talk following next month’s Super Bowl Sunday.
The Amazon CEO stars in the Seattle tech giant’s new Super Bowl ad, which was teased Friday in a 30-second preview clip.
The ad, titled “Did Alexa Lose Her Voice?” features a woman in her bathroom asking Alexa — Amazon’s popular voice assistant — about the weather in Austin, Texas, (which just happens to be a final-20 candidate for Amazon’s second headquarters).
Alexa malfunctions, sparking a “breaking news” frenzy and getting Bezos’ attention at Amazon’s HQ1. The CEO appears, speaking with an employee who assures him that they’ve found a replacement for Alexa.
You’ll have to tune in Feb. 4 to find out who or what replaces the AI-powered assistant.
Amazon said the ad explores hypothetical questions like, “what would happen if Alexa lost her voice?” or “is Alexa even replaceable?”
The ad is another example of Bezos steeping further into the public spotlight, as this recent New York Times piece highlighted, more so than ever since he started Amazon more than two decades ago. Bezos recently became the richest person in history as his net worth topped $105 billion thanks to Amazon’s growing $675 billion market capitalization.
The cost to Bezos and Amazon won’t be cheap. Sports Illustrated reported that a 30-second spot will cost more than $5 million this year during this year’s game.
Bezos’ other public media-related appearances have been more subtle — for example, acting as an alien in “Star Trek Beyond.”
But this is actually not his first TV commercial. Back in 2001, the 54-year-old starred in a Taco Bell ad highlighting the fast food giant’s new chicken quesadilla — a.k.a. “the hot new handheld.”
This is Amazon’s third Super Bowl ad. Last year, the company featured one of its delivery drones, and in 2015, it spotlighted Alexa when the voice assistant was first gaining popularity. Amazon has continued to develop and grow Alexa, integrating it not only into the company’s own Echo devices but also third-party products.
Google competes with its own voice assistant, Google Home, which the search giant touted in its own Super Bowl ad last year.
