• by Sarah Mahoney  @mahoney_sarah, Yesterday

Actor Jon Hamm is starring in a new campaign for Carvana, highlighting a) how easy it is to sell your car on the online platform and b) how hard it is to wriggle out of certain invitations.

In the first spot in the new campaign, called “Excuses,” Hamm tries to dodge a neighbor’s dog’s birthday party by claiming he needs to sell his car, only to be exposed as a Carvana customer whose vehicle is already loaded onto a hauler.

A second spot is coming soon, says Keith Marsh, Carvana’s associate director of brand marketing, and the new campaign also includes paid and organic social posts that will roll out over the next two months. “The ads all focus on how easy, convenient and hassle-free selling a car is on Carvana,” he tells Marketing Daily.

The spot also fits into the Phoenix-based company’s ongoing approach of “pairing A-list talent with product-first storytelling.” With Hamm, he says, “We’re hoping to relay some new comedic tones as well.”

Marsh declined to give a budget for the new campaign, but says that while the broader goal is boosting sales numbers, “we’re also looking for shifts in overall sentiment. We feel strongly that we will see an increase in positive brand sentiment from these spots.”

Carvana created the ads inhouse.

Marsh said Hamm fits Carvana’s goals of working with celebrities with broad generational appeal. “We’re not pigeonholing ourselves.” Hamm can connect with all kinds of car buyers, “whether in their 50s or 60s or their 20s and 30s. He offers that kind of connection.”

Carvana is on a sales tear of late, with retail units jumping 46% in the first quarter, reaching 133,898 retail units for total revenue of $4.23 billion, a 38% increase. Both are quarterly records. Net income reached $373 million^, which is also a record.

And while tariffs continue to roil much of the automotive industry, Carvana says it may be one of the few companies that benefit from the ongoing trade war.

In a recent earnings call webcast for investors, Carvana CEO Ernie Garcia acknowledged that tariffs boost prices and create uncertainty, but added that the company has heard “reasonable arguments” that new car prices will be hit harder than used. Tariffs “may be a directional benefit to used cars.”