TV Ad Spend Weekly: 'Alexa, get mom something really nice for Mothers' Day'
Brands continue to invest heavily in above-the-line content, and television is still seen as the place brands want to be. Each week, in partnership with Kantar Media, The Drum looks at which brands have been investing the most on newly-launched creative on US national broadcast and cable TV.
The new Alexa Spot brings the family closer, showcasing a new contemporary Mother's Day in its TV debut / Kantar Media
For the week of April 30, advertisers spent $134m on new national TV placements, a 14% increase over the amount they spent on new commercials during the prior week. The 144th Kentucky Derby was the big winner, knocking out the NBA Playoffs (which spent the previous three weeks in the top spot), with $6.2m in new ad expenditures.
New creative accounted for 17% of the $803m advertisers spent on TV commercials during the 7-day period. The top spender on new ads was Kohl’s, which invested $4.1m in new ad creative for the week. JC Penney ($3.9m), Amazon ($3.7m), Dairy Queen ($3.4m) and Key Jewelers ($3.1m) rounded out the top five.
Mother’s Day was a dominant theme among the top advertisers, with Kohl’s, JC Penney and Kay Jewelers all promoting special sales to find the perfect gift for mom. Dairy Queen understandably took a different approach and focused on introducing new frozen treats from its summer menu.
This week’s creative spotlight, however, belongs to Amazon, whose top new ad touched on the theme of a gift for mom without explicitly mentioning the holiday. In the 30-second spot, a grandmother sadly watches her family depart after a visit. Later she receives an Amazon package on her doorstep containing the company’s new Echo Spot wireless speaker and the message, “Just ask: ‘Alexa, call home’”. She does, of course, and is delighted to find her family greeting her through the device’s circular screen.
The theme of the emotional new creative, “Be Together More”, differs from the more utilitarian uses of the Echo Spot that Amazon promoted in previous commercials, including setting an alarm, ordering products, monitoring your baby and turning on lights. Since the Echo Spot debuted in September 2017, Amazon has spent a total of $15m on television ads to promote the device.
See all of the new creative submitted from around the world in The Drum's Creative Works section.
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This data is part of ongoing reporting released on a weekly basis with Kantar Media using its AdScope tool.