• by Sarah Mahoney  @mahoney_sarah, November 21, 2024

While Amazon is running the usual ultra-sincere holiday anthems, the company is flexing its funny bone in a new campaign starring Adam Driver.

Driver, clad in the all-black uniform of serious actors everywhere, deadpans his way through some of the ecommerce site’s most unlikely five-star reviews, including a soliloquy to a marriage-saving banana slicer. “What can I say about the banana slicer that hasn’t already been said about the wheel -- and penicillin?”

An ode to a Dutch oven is so enthusiastic the writer hopes her kids turn the casserole dish into an urn, holding her ashes on the mantel. An endorsement of a stuffed seal takes a turn toward the racy.

Amazon says the “5-Star Theatre” campaign, written in the style of a one-person show, is meant to inspire customers to shop for gifts they’ll love during Black Friday Week. The effort also provides a little comic respite from the ongoing “Joy is Shared” effort, which this year features “Midnight Opus,” a theater janitor getting his moment in the spotlight.

"This series is an extension of our global holiday campaign, designed to build awareness and excitement around our Black Friday Week and Cyber Monday deals,” says Jo Shoesmith, Amazon’s global chief creative officer, in an email to Marketing Daily. Besides making the point that “the best writers are our customers,” they remind viewers of the vast range of Amazon products, from rubber ducks to massage guns.

“These reviews range from simple and heartfelt to laugh-out-loud funny – bringing our product selection, value and convenience to life,” she says. “It’s about highlighting some of the ways—big and small— that we aim to deliver joy to our customers, making their lives easier every day."

Amazon created the ads in-house. Running only in the U.S., the campaign includes ten 30- and 60-second spots, which will be refreshed throughout the holiday shopping season.

Ads are running on paid social media channels, including TikTok, Meta, and Snapchat; premium online video, including Thursday Night Football on Prime Video, A&E, Disney/Hulu, FOX/Tubi, Max, NBC/Peacock, Paramount and YouTube, and Amazon’s social channels.