Alexa Is Your Helpful TV-Watching Buddy in Ads for Amazon's Fire TV

If you're trying to watch an episode of Homeland and your mother keeps distracting you by asking questions about the twisting-turning, intricate, high-stakes plot, maybe there's only one correct response: Just start the damn thing over again. Alexa can't promise you an uninterrupted viewing experience, but she can at least get you back to the beginning of that clandestine Carrie and Saul heart-to-heart on a park bench. (Try to keep up, Mom!) But only if you have Amazon's Fire TV gadget. Amazon, via agency Johannes Leonardo, rolls out the second wave of ads for the smart TV device by showing it in its natural habitat, from the perspective of the entertainment devotee, with the emphasis on its user-friendly voice-activated features. By request, Alexa tells a corny joke during The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, for example, and orders a copy of The Handmaid's Tale, the Margaret Atwood novel, without straying from Hulu's TV version of the dystopian drama. The virtual assistant also looks up hours of operation of a restaurant called J.R. Crickets, so fans of Atlanta can get their own "lemon pepper wet" fix like the characters in the FX comedy. [kickout id="1"] [kickout id="2"] [kickout id="3"] [kickout id="4"] The spots, airing on TV and digital, continue the tagline "Can your TV do that?" by adding a romantic song from Moonlight to a couple's wedding playlist and switching from Marvel's Runaways to a hoops game (Dad beats his teen daughter in the tug-of-war over what to watch—that's his superpower). [kickout id="5"] [kickout id="6"] Amazon, competing with other streaming players like Roku and Google's Chromecast, wants to convince consumers that its gadget is "more seamless, more interactive and more informative." The six new spots and a handful from the December campaign will run all this month. [kickout id="7"] [kickout id="8"] [kickout id="9"] [kickout id="10"] CREDITS Client: Amazon Fire TV Vice President, Worldwide Marketing: Neil Lindsay Vice President, Fire TV: Marc Whitten Global GM of Mass Advertising: Claudine Cheever Global Creative Director: Simon Morris Sr. Manager, Marketing: Jonathan Bergstrom Group Creative Director: Colin Gaul Senior Campaign Manager: Matt Neupert Director of Marketing, Fire TV : Jen Prenner Global Brand & Advertising Manager: Erika Takeushi Program Manager: Lisa Acton Partner Content Lead: Rob Henson Project Manager: Tika Melroy Agency: Johannes Leonardo Co-Founder / Chief Creative Officer: Jan Jacobs Co-Founder / Chief Creative Officer: Leo Premutico President: Bryan Yasko Head of Account Management: Emily Wilcox Senior Copywriter: Jono Flannery Senior Art Director: Paul Gregson Junior Copywriter: Tommy Woods Junior Art Director: Jacob Mehringer Director of Creative Services: Michelle Moscone Project Manager: John Thomas Shults Head of Integrated Production: Dana May Executive Producer: Craig Keppler Integrated Producer: Siobhan Spence-Edwards Senior Business Affairs Manager: Ann Marie Turbitt Account Director: Elektra O’Malley Account Executive: Kiana Grant Head of Strategy: Mark Aronson Brand Strategy Director: Mary Bakarich Head of Comms Strategy: Megan Piro Creative Consultant: Vincent Peone Editorial: PS 260 Editor: Adam Epstein Assistant Editor: Paul Rummerfield Head Of Production: Laura Patterson Assistant Producer: Natalie Raffaele Sound Vendor: Sound Lounge Mixer: Tom Jucarone ADR Mixer: Patrick Christensen Producer: Liana Rosenberg