As a fierce and innovative competitor with other online and brick-and-mortar stores, Amazon tends to be the first one to advertise. For instance, the company forced other retailers to kick-start their back-to-school ad campaigns even earlier in the summer when it made July 19th Amazon Prime Day.
Is it the holiday season already? According to Amazon, it is.
It isn’t so surprising that the company kicked off holiday advertising this year. Amazon, the popular e-commerce and cloud computing company, started its holiday preparations in early November rather than in the festive month of December like most other advertisers.
To kick off the merriment, Amazon launched a TV advertisement entitled “Amazon Holidays 2018 – Can You Feel It.” Check it out below!
This commercial ran on over 70 different TV networks, including Telemundo, since being released in early November. The company spent an estimated amount of $15 million on the advertisement alone. Amazon also employed an integrated advertising strategy here. Viewers can hear Amazon‘s virtual assistant say, “Alexa, turn on the lights,” so, not only is the commercial highlighting Amazon Prime, but it is also showcasing other Amazon products like Alexa.
Here are a three theories as to why Amazon decided to run an ad so early on in the year.
1. It’s an e-commerce company, which relies heavily on certain delivery services
There is always the potential for shipping delays or failures when it comes to FedEx or the U.S. postal service, both of which are services that Amazon uses. To prevent customers from not receiving their purchases in time for the holidays, the company had to start advertising earlier to give itself more time and leeway to correct potential delivery issues.
2. Hanukkah comes early this year
Hanukkah is an eight-day long Jewish Festival of Lights. Traditions include lighting the menorah, playing the dreidel game, eating gelt and latkes, and, of course, exchanging a different gift each night during the holiday. Hanukkah, where most celebrators give or receive at least eight presents, is the perfect holiday for Amazon to capitalize on. The company can entice people to buy and request their Hanukkah gifts from Amazon.
This year, Hanukkah falls unusually early. While it normally lands near Christmas Day in late December, the 2018 holiday happens between Sunday, December 2nd and Monday, December 10th. If Amazon wanted to make the Hanukkah celebrators customers, then it had to start advertising earlier on in the year to give potential clients time to make their purchases.
3. It was a small hint for viewers before the big announcement that one of Amazon‘s newest headquarters would be in Long Island City, New York
Towards the end of this commercial, New York City appears on the screen. Following this, the ad pans to the little girl in her bed with her finger to her lips, signalling a special secret she has. The ad then closes in on the girl’s dresser and a snow globe, which seems to have captured the city of New York. These scenes acted as clues that Amazon was opening a second warehouse in New York. The public announcement wasn’t made until Tuesday, November 13th of this year.
Conclusion
Amazon is an advertising powerhouse within its industry. Executing an innovative ad strategy full of fresh ideas like its new partnership with Elfster make the company so effective. The fact that it starts advertising early for certain holidays and events may be a signal to other advertisers to do the same. If they do, perhaps, they too could be super successful like Amazon.
