Parks and Recreation star Amy Poehler is the featured player in a set of ads for Comcast’s Xfinity, and the comedic actor, producer, and director said she had fun filming the spots.
The year-long Xfinity advertising campaign starring Poehler, called ‘Simple, Easy, Awesome – starring Amy Poehler,’ utilizes her unique sense of humor and wit to put a spotlight on the brand’s product benefits, across Xfinity Internet, Xfinity TV, and Xfinity Mobile.
One spot, ‘Make Yourself at Home,’ finds Poehler on a couch using Xfinity’s voice activation feature to look at baby sloth videos. Pan out and we see that she has made herself comfortable in an Xfinity store and is surrounded by staff and shoppers.
Created in partnership with Goodby Silverstein & Partners, the fully integrated campaign kicks off on February 4 and will roll out throughout 2019. Stacy Wall directed the TV spots.
“Doing this commercial makes my parents very happy,” joked Poehler in an email interview with The Drum. She went on to say that she had plenty of creative input during the filming process, but there are plenty more spots to come in the future.
“We have just started, but it’s been a very fun and collaborative process so far. It’s been a pleasure to work with everyone and the scripts have been fun,” she said.
A second spot, ‘Potpourri,’ has Poehler explaining that a great thing about having the “fastest, most reliable Internet” is that all your kids’ friends want to come over. Unfortunately, that’s also the thing that’s not so awesome. As she explains that, surrounded by children, a child with an empty glass bowl comes up and asks her for more chips. Poehler says, “Oh, Freddy, that was potpourri.” So, he asks for more “pepperee” and she says, “I don’t see why not. It comes from nature.”
Poehler told The Drum that there was plenty of room for improvisation during the shoot. “It’s always fun to try new things and experiment with what would work in the short amount of time a commercial allows. Plus, we are working with kids and dogs, so they are always going off script…. The kids are so funny and such professionals. I really look up to them.”
The two launch spots will air across television, digital, mobile, and radio.
In addition to the creative content, the Comcast partnership with Poehler includes product integration into the company’s award-winning Xfinity X1 platform. Customers can say things like “Amy is Awesome” and “Everything Amy Poehler” into the X1 voice remote and they’ll not only be taken to a special page with a curated collection of Amy’s movies, shows, talk show appearances, and more, but also unlock special voice messages from Amy herself.
“Working with Amy has been a dream – her charm, charisma, and relatability are a great fit for Xfinity and her improv skills really took our creative to another level,” said Eileen Diskin, senior vice-president, marketing communications at Comcast. “We’re proud to have her represent our brand and look forward to building on our partnership with Amy throughout the year.”
The campaign brings to life the idea that you don’t have to be an expert to get the most out of technology, and the commercials put Amy in real-life locations ranging from a family’s home to an Xfinity retail store. The campaign will include multiple TV spots to roll out in the coming months.
Source: The Drum
