How Amazon Connects With Fans Through the Power of Fandom
In a panel titled “Embrace the Power of Fandom to Connect Content and Commerce,” Alexys Coronel, head of U.S. entertainment and telecommunications at Amazon Ads, sat down with Andrew Wallenstein, Variety Intelligence Platform president and chief media analyst, to discuss how brands can connect with fans — and how that relates to Prime Video’s transition to an ad-supported service.
“Once you capture a fan’s interest, they now look to you continue to drive that connection,” Coronel explained to the crowd.
Coronel turned to the lack of toy sales on the 2018 blockbuster “Jurassic World” franchise to illustrate her point. Despite a massive box office opening, there were no toy sales during the first two weeks of the film’s release. She gave two reasons for this: One, the toys were not ready due to planning challenges and two, there were no collaborative marketing efforts. Since then, she said they have prioritized collaboration across all marketing efforts.
“Anyone who touches a piece of product or content that surrounds a single brand, a character, a franchise, we ask them to come to the table, and we have a collective conversation,” she said.
Delving into the data from a recent survey conducted by Harris Insights & Analytics, Coronel cited that that fans engage with an average of 10 franchises, while family fans engage with an average of 12 franchises. Family fans are greater because they include the interests of other family members. “Customers will reward the brands and the fandoms that they love,” she said.
Pivoting to the news about Prime Video becoming an ad supported service, Coronel revealed that Amazon’s expectation is to deliver 115 million unique viewers to their U.S. advertiser community, she said.
“Unless you opt out, you will start enjoying what we believe will be very compelling ad experiences within Prime Video,” she said
For example, Prime Video’s Thursday Night Football viewers will receive differentiated messages based on the customer segment they fall into.
“Maybe it’s a retention for those who are current subscribers, maybe it’s a win back message for those who just lost and maybe it’s an exploratory more branding offering for those you have not engaged with yet,” Coronel said.
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