A First for Amazon Live

While large in-person launch events remain off the table, hyping up a live event online is the only possible avenue to generate consumer excitement

What’s in this article:

  • Mitsubishi is using Amazon Live to unveil its 2022 Outlander
  • That’s a first for the automotive industry and one that could help steer Amazon Live toward recognition as a live-stream shopping platform

As Modern Retail reported, “Amazon’s event signals an escalation of those efforts — and hints at a possible future where Amazon Live becomes a hub of all kinds of live events and product launches for brands.”

It quotes William Gasner, a co-founder of influencer marketing agency Stack Influence, who has worked with influencers on Amazon Live, who observed, “‘Mitsubishi’s live launch is one of the first major brands to use the platform for a product release that I’ve seen, but I expect to see many more brands following suit.’”

Jumping on the bandwagon built up by social media platforms, Amazon Live launched back in 2019 but didn’t really take off. Only last year, the company started promoting it more with some big events for Prime Day and a push for influencers to use it to sell their products.

As we’re consuming more online content while still staying home more, we’re also buying more online, and bringing the two activities together makes sense for marketers.

As we saw in A New Spin on Live Events, while large in-person launch events remain off the table, hyping up a live event online is the only possible avenue for trying to generate consumer excitement. So, brands have had to embrace the digital version of live.

That’s the take of Alan Wolk, co-founder of the TV analysis group TVREV, who is quoted in the article saying, “‘It’s very much something that would not have happened were it not for the pandemic.’”

He pointed out that other car brands have held their live events on their own sites. However, he does see the advantage for a brand to use Amazon as the platform to reach a larger audience, particularly, as he observed, “‘people are on Amazon more than ever.’”

If this proves successful for Mitsubishi, it’s possible that in a future in which traditional live events are again possible, there also will be a digital live event to reach the people who cannot attend in person and extend marketing reach.

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