AD COUNCIL & ALEXA
AD COUNCIL & ALEXA
Challenge:
In 2021, Ad Council came to my team with a challenge for the next iteration of their iconic Love Has No Labels diversity & inclusion campaign: How can we foster every day acts of inclusivity among Amazon customers?
Insight:
Research showed that in 2020, thousands of people a day asked Alexa about love, but Alexa responded with, “Sorry, I don't have human love figured out quite yet.”
Ad Council
“Love Has No Labels” Campaign
The idea: “Alexa, what is love?”
To make A.I. more inclusive and to spread love and inclusivity with Ad Council, we decided to update Alexa's response to "What is love?" with real people's voices—for the first time ever. We asked people to share a time when someone's everyday act of love made them feel included.
*Cannes Lions Shortlist, Audio & Radio Category
*The One Show Awards (Shortlisted in 6 Categories, 1 Merit Award)
*The Shorty Awards: Silver in Creative Use of Technology, Audience Honor in Creative Use of Technology
On-device updates: Making A.I. more inclusive
We worked in close collaboration with the Alexa personality and engineering teams to update the response to "Alexa, what is love?" with answers from actual people from the film.
Responses from real people
For the campaign film and the device update, we interviewed 8 people in Chicago with the documentary-film director, Rodney Lucas.
Campaign Film: Recording The Alexa Responses
We produced a film to capture audio-bites from real people and upload them to Alexa, as well as drive awareness of the Love Has No Labels campaign and the "Alexa, what is love?" utterance. This is the 30-second cut-down for broadcast
of a longer 2-minute film.
Director: Rodney Lucas
EP: Natalie Hill / Carrie Schaer
Production: Fanciful Films
Full-length film
Film cut-downs on Streaming TV
The TV spot was placed across Fire TV, Amazon FreeVee, IMDb, and more—prompting people to say "Alexa, what is love?" to their Echo devices.
Where it all came together: The campaign website
On a campaign landing page, we provided additional context around the campaign, the film, the director, and more expanded stories of each person—along with the same soundbites customers could hear on their Alexa devices.
Out-of-home Ads: Amazon Prime Trucks & Boxes
After the campaign's success, we were able to unlock additional budget for out-of-home advertising, including Prime Truck wraps and Amazon box advertising.
Awards & Coverage
The campaign received several shortlists and awards, including:
CANNES LIONS 2022
🎖 Shortlist | Radio & Audio Innovation - Voice-Activation
SHORTY IMPACT AWARDS 2022
🏆 Winner | Creative Use of Technology
THE ONE SHOW 2022
🏆 Winner | Merit Award | Music & Sound Craft Experiential Music & Sound
🎖 Shortlist | Creative Effectiveness - CSR
🎖 Shortlist | Creative Effectiveness - Non-profit/Charity
🎖 Shortlist | Fusion Pencil
🎖 Shortlist | Integrated - Innovation in Integrated
🎖 Shortlist | Interactive & Mobile Craft - Use of Technology
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The campaign received coverage from major industry publications:
Adweek: Ad Council and Amazon Spot Shows How Love and Identity Go Hand in Hand
Ad Age: Ad Council's 'Love Has No Labels' Gets Amazon's Alexa to Define Love
Muse by Clio: 'Alexa, What Is Love?' Amazon and the Ad Council Ponder Answers
SHOOT Online: Ad Council, Amazon Brand Lab, Director Rodney Lucas Ask "Alexa, What Is Love?"
Media Post: "What is love?" Ask Alexa
Reel Chicago: ‘Alexa, What Is Love?’ the Ad Council’s new Love Has No Labels campaign
