Source: Jet.com – “Spend Less On The People Your Love”
The RetailWire Christmas Commercial Challenge: Amazon.com vs. Jet.com
The 2016 Christmas selling season is off to a flying start. Black Friday and Cyber Monday revenues on the books — and the winner is … e-commerce. A wide variety of companies and trade groups have reported an uptick in online traffic and sales that appear to confirm that Americans are engaged in a fundamental shift away from visiting stores to make holiday purchases, choosing instead to use mobile devices to place orders on retailer websites.
No two companies have invested more in driving sales online than Amazon.com and Walmart. In week three of the Christmas Commercial Challenge, we’re matching up e-tail giant Amazon’s “Priest and Imam Meet for Tea” spot against “Spend Less on the People You Love” from Jet.com, which Walmart acquired for $3 billion+ in September.
Amazon’s “Priest and Imam” commercial, which features a story of shared humanity, has gone viral, drawing more than 1.37 million views on the company’s YouTube page as well as generating press coverage and shares across social media sites. On Amazon’s Facebook page, the commercial has racked up 1.1 million views with 10,000 shares.
Jet.com’s “Spend Less” spot uses familiar holiday images set to a Tchaikovsky musical score to drum home the message that the more consumers buy on the site, the more they save. While it has not received the same press coverage or social media buzz of the Amazon spot, Jet’s YouTube page shows views on the spot have topped 5.2 million.
“A Priest and Imam meet for a cup of tea”
“Spend Less On The People You Love”
Discussion Questions
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: What are your critiques of Amazon’s “Priest and Imam” and Jet’s “Spend Less” commercials? Which do you think does a better job of connecting with each company’s core customers while reaching out to new shoppers?
Poll
BrainTrust
Dave Wendland
Vice President, Strategic RelationsHamacher Resource Group
Lee Kent
Principal, Your Retail Authority, LLC
The Amazon spot is by far more heartwarming and displays a unique sense of humanity. It made me feel connected. The Jet.com ad is so-so and leaves no lasting impression with me.
Amazon’s commercial was definitely much more heartwarming and had an authentic feel to it throughout. They did a really nice job of weaving together a short story that crossed cultural lines with their brand and services. Jet was a little more heavy handed with their message — it conveyed information, but sacrificed the human element and an opportunity to build a more lasting connection with consumers.
The Amazon spot shows people paying attention to each other and giving gifts that are personal (even quickly after a visit and a conversation). In addition it emphasizes similarity amid diversity which is a great message this holiday season. Jet’s video is all about buying tickets. It would have been softened by showing the emotion of people actually visiting the person sending the ticket. Amazon wins for me.
I had already seen Amazon’s “Priest and Imam” commercial. A Sikh friend of mine sent in to me via Facebook, thrilled that a superpower like Amazon made a holiday commercial promoting tolerance. Let’s be clear, the company is making a statement with this commercial — showing the similarities between two religious old men in a country where freedom of religion is in question.
Will it help their bottom line? Absolutely. The Millennial-minded will respect Amazon’s choice to make a statement. Again, customers want to know about the values of the companies they patronize.
Jet’s spend less commercial was cute, to the point and non-partisan.
I don’t think the commercials do anything for sales other than continue awareness. As a seller and administrator of many client accounts on both marketplaces, I can tell you that Amazon has built extreme loyalty with their customers that neither Jet nor Walmart can break, no matter how great a commercial spot they produce. A recent study of Amazon customers showed an overwhelming loyalty to the brand — 72 percent of U.S. consumers begin their product search on Amazon vs. 43 percent on Google, and 79 percent of U.S. consumers check prices on Amazon before making a purchase.
Amazon Prime is clearly a game-changer and something that will be very difficult for any competitor to break. The number one reason for joining Prime is free two-day shipping, and 60 percent of Amazon’s GMV comes from Prime.
As a founder of several e-commerce brands, Amazon has built up retention that no one else can break. That is my opinion.
Amazon is the clear winner, not only capturing the holiday spirit, but doing so with grace and humor. At a time when the country has been torn apart by a brutal presidential election, Amazon heals and provides hope. Nothing’s wrong with the Jet spot, which solely focuses on pricing, it just doesn’t compare to Amazon, just like the two e-commerce services the spots represent.
I love the Amazon spot. Jet’s spot is … well … just a sort of price-oriented spot. I get what they were trying to say, but it was just ham-handed. I think Amazon’s spot speaks to values which I believe are ever increasingly more important to people — as people, not faceless “consumers.” Choosing to communicate a message of respect, peace, understanding, diversity and friendship speaks volumes in an era characterized by divisiveness, hatred, racial, ethnic and religious animus. If the Amazon spot isn’t an open invitation to new customers, regardless of what demographic group they happen to belong to, I don’t know what is. Given the current political climate, it was a bold move.
The Amazon message of “you can get that here” builds more brand value than Jet’s “get it here for less.” While our brains are hardwired to seek joy as well as reduce pain, the rewards of pleasure will win every time.
Amazon’s subtle indication that the reason for the season (suggested by the priest) goes beyond spending money may signal more acknowledgement that Christmas is more than just ribbons and bows.
The Amazon commercial links people and puts a sense of authenticity and human connection into a relatively impersonal channel. Jet.com is okay, underscoring its value aspects, but does little to connect like the Amazon ad.
Amazon by far is the best running commercial of the season. In fact, it could be run anytime of the year and would get the same response. It reflects the good in mankind. Something we sorely need.
Jet.com left me feeling like I have only seen another commercial.
The Amazon ad is spot-on for a company that is global in reach. In addition to stating that gifts can be thoughtful and functional, it affirms our common humanity while honoring differences. It also offers technology — and specifically Amazon’s — as a great equalizer that is easy to use (even the Priest and Imam can order on their smartphones). The spot reminds us of why we give and our need to nurture relationships. This one wins it for me.
Despite the holiday music and imagery, the Jet spot is all about spending less during the holidays. There’s no emotional connection; it’s transactional to the core. The message is probably on target for a Jet customer, but it doesn’t necessarily say anything new or surprising.
I typically don’t like to weigh these commercials based on the “art” but rather on how well they tell the brand’s story. In that case, the Jet,com ad was more on-point to their story. However, the Amazon ad was just flat-out good. Nothing to do with the brand story, really, but just plain good.
Amazon gets my 2 cents.
Glad you elected to weigh in, Lee. You characterized your reaction(s) very well.
The Amazon spot is the usual let’s play on politics and religion and try to grab some “awe so nice thoughts.” Not very realistic in today’s world and the likelihood is nil.
Jet’s commercial is funny and offers an answer in the reality of today’s world that can help many people with the pain — the pain in the cost of Christmas.
We use Jet and the delivery speed amazes my wife — time and time again. Faster deliveries than Amazon Prime and great selection. They even have Kirkland Coffee on Jet.com. Try it — better than Starbucks! 1/2 the cost.
Amazon’s commercial is in the holiday spirit with mild humor but a limited connection to the company. Jet’s commercial is on target and the clear winner. It promotes lower prices and strongly suggests a consumer do all their shopping with them. Further, it promotes giving more expensive gifts for less.
The Amazon spot appeals to people on more levels than the Jet.com spot. Jet.com hammers a message of low price. Okay, fine — people do like low prices. But, the shopping experience is not portrayed; there is no visualization of what it looks like to shop more and save. Viewers are simply told they will save more.
The Amazon spot appeals to human nature, with the cooperation between assumed rivals. Also, we see the shopping experience on the mobile app, which is nice because it provides context. Subliminally, Amazon shows one of its core values derived from the Marketplace model — the fact that everything is always “in stock.” That reinforces the trust consumers have in the brand.
Ultimately, the Amazon spot says more to consumers, who already know that they will find competitive prices on Amazon thanks to the Marketplace model.
Amazon is the winner here! It is a likable commercial which plays into our sense of warmth during the holidays. They are on a roll, and I can’t see anyone surpassing them in the near future.
After the last 6 months, the Amazon double message is clearly the winner. Speed, convenience, gratification and oh yeah, kindness regardless of belief. Bingo.
This one is a bit tough.
The Amazon ad is clearly better — it’s positive, heartwarming, and upbeat. But it’s far too long for the payout (and I saw it on TV over the weekend — too long). Otherwise, brilliant storytelling. But storytelling takes too much time for the ad to make much of a difference. So I’ll give it a “B-“. (It’s a great example of an ad business plague — brilliant A-grade production with C or D grade meaning.)
Too much cognitive dissonance in “Spend Less.” The agency needed to sort out a positive spin on the “spend less” message. What they never get across is something like “show your love more while spending less.” Instead, I was left with a fundamental message of “this Christmas, be a cheap s.o.b”. Kind of an “embrace your inner Scrooge” message. This one gets a “D.”
The Amazon ad is better in so many ways. It builds brand equity among users and non-users in a very subtle way while supporting its position of easily and quickly delivering what you need or want for yourself and others.
Jet’s commercial may help generate awareness of their offerings and related pricing, but the execution won’t hold the viewer’s attention or engage as well as the Amazon commercial. So, its ROI is much more limited than Amazon’s.