Name: Song Yu Ning /Farah
Instructor: Mr. James McNeil
Course: COMM 4665, B01
Date: September 15th, 2019
Advertising Analysis of Amazon Prime Commercial Lion
Amazon Prime is a paid subscription service that the prominent internet firm Amazon provided to enable consumers to enjoy certain privileges such as free video viewing and advance discount information. With the purpose of propagandizing the brand-new free same day delivery policy of Amazon Japan in 2016, the one and a half minutes advertisement named Lion was released. Lion depicted a warm family story which was accompanied with gentle soundtrack, and it successfully evoked sweet memories and touched everyone deep inside.
The storyline of this commercial is fairly explicit and straightforward. On a cozy afternoon, the sun was shining brightly in a small family yard. A pair of young parents surrounded a lovely baby and spent their own happy moment together. The atmosphere was filled with happy laughter and cheerful voices. The golden retriever, as an old family member, watches the scene and also wanted to participate to play with the baby. However, the little baby was very afraid of this “giant” and was scared to cry. Consequently, the big dog had to leave the room in silence, and stood alone in the corner with a wronged face. At this point, the wise father noticed that the baby liked a stuffed animal in the shape of a lion so much, he immediately took out his phone and opened amazon and bought a lion headgear. The baby finally got rid of fear and tried to develop friendship with the dog. In the advert of fast delivery, viewers are both amused by the cute look of the dog and moved by the pure affection between humans and animals.
From my perspective, the success of Lion depends on three different applications of advertising strategies. First of all, it has its own specific target audience and establishes a special emotional connection with them. The objective of Amazon is to provide convenient and efficient life experience for middle and upper class people, who are too busy to shop from physical malls and own relatively high requirements for the quality of life. Therefore, the spacious house and bright room shown at the beginning can lead to a very familiar feeling for the audience and bring the customer and company closer to each other. The emotional resonance and intimate relationship make the audience feel that their believes and lifestyles are corresponded with the brand, thus the commodities and services of Amazon are undoubtedly trustworthy and reliable. If they get into trouble or need immediate help, Amazon will solve the problems extraordinarily. In a word, the relevant connections make a great contribution to the success of this advertisement.
Secondly, this commercial not only intends to advertise the free delivery service but also aim to disseminate the precious ideas and unique concepts of the brand, which help to build a great reputation potentially. Comparing to simply finish a business transaction, acquiring appreciation and recognition from target audience through selling idea is more effective in developing a long-term and steady relationship. Specifically, the entire video emphasizes the importance of family and trust from an emotional perspective, rather than rationally analyzing the speed and convenience of Prime service. But when consider the plot further, we can find that the warm atmosphere in video is actually inseparable from the swift delivery service. I think it is a unique combination of emotion and rationality.
Meanwhile, the unexpected endingthe dog dressed as a lion to start a new friendshipreveals another principle that a different way of expressing love can have unexpected results and make a great influence. This is a very important value this brand spreads to the public, although this happy ending still inherently relies on the support of Amazon Prime. In sum, the emotional expression in the advertisement reminds audience’s personal memories and represents the brand culture and spirit such as harmony, equality, and respect, which makes it more conducive for the audience to accept the marketing concept.
In conclusion, the relevant connection, the emotional selling idea and the unexpected ending constitute the success of the Amazon Prime commercial Lion. But I have a suggestion for improvement because I felt a little wired about one detail in the advertisement. I think it is puzzling that the little baby loves fierce lion but fear the fluffy dog. In my opinion, the story will be more reasonable and persuasive if the director add an additional explanation or just change the lion to a cute rabbit.
References
Amazon Prime Commercial Lion. BiliBili. Retrieved from: 2016.
Drewniany, Bonnie L. and Jewler, A. Jerome. Creativity: Unexpected but Relevant Selling Messages. Creative Strategy in Advertising. Michael Rosenberg, 2011.
