Some people initially thought Amazon’s dramatic revelation to 60 Minutes that it was developing drones to deliver packages was a publicity stunt it was so unheard of at the time, but the company is spending a lot of resources on making drones a part of a future 30-minute delivery service.
In April, Amazon began running an ad on television featuring delivery drones for its Amazon Prime subscription service. The “More to Prime” ad is a Broadway-style ad, and while heavily featuring shipping boxes with the smiling Amazon logo, the message of the ad was there was more to Amazon Prime than free shipping.
The ad kicks off with a delivery driver singing, “Have you heard the news? There’s more to Prime than free 2-day shipping on shoes?” He sings about Prime’s benefit of free streaming movies and also mentions free music (with an appearance by indie rock band Rock the Moon).
The dancing drivers are wearing a generic uniform and could easily represent UPS, FedEx or USPS drivers (some boxes are also shown stuck together in a humanoid shape dancing alongside the real humans).
When the lead driver sings, “Plus, we started all our shipping by drones” – with three Amazon drones flying overhead – an actor portraying a corporate lawyer humorously interjects, “Legally we need to inform viewers we have not yet begun shipping by drones.”
And the reason is because the Federal Aviation Administration bans commercial drones in the U.S.
Amazon told Congress last week it’s been working overtime to develop its “Prime Air” system and to redesign its distribution centers to accommodate the technology. As we reported, an Amazon representative told members of Congress at a hearing, “We looked into all different kinds of functionalities of how to get things to customer on a 30-minute-or-less basis, and what really works are drones.”
As of June 23rd, the national spot had been aired 4,062 times, according to iSpot.TV.
Let us know what you think of the ads, the drones, Amazon Prime, and anything else on your mind.
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