Google just released a new ad for the Google Home, to celebrate the holidays, and it’s an ad that everyone will love. It features Macaulay Culkin, who played the role of Kevin McAllister in ‘Home Alone’ and ‘Home Alone 2’. The ‘Home Alone’ franchise are some of the most popular movies to watch during the Christmas season, so it only made sense for Culkin to reprise his role as Kevin McAllister for a new ad with Google. The ad is called “Home Alone Again with the Google Assistant”. It brings back some of the more famous scenes from Home Alone, and is set in a more recent time-frame. With McAllister talking to the pizza delivery person through the Nest Hello and Google Home Hub, and even showing off “Routines” when Harry and Marv stop by the house.
Seeing as this is 2018, and Home Alone came out back in 1990, about 28 years ago, McAllister has grown up. So he is now shown as an adult that is “Home Alone”, but the house still looks the same. Which is pretty impressive on Google’s part. Google even used robot vacuums for cut outs of people to make it look like people were walking around in the house when Harry and Marv pulled up outside. This was a really creative commercial for Google, and given how popular ‘Home Alone’ is still in 2018, it is likely to be one of the best commercials of the holiday season. While playing on some nostalgia here, Google also subtly showed off all of the devices that work with Google Assistant, and showed off some of its more popular features.
Google is also launching a few new features to help out that nostalgia, starting today. You’ll be able to ask “Hey Google How much do I owe you?” and you’ll be reminded to “Keep the change, you filthy animal”. You can also say “Did I forget something?” and Google Assistant will scream back “KEVINNNNNNNN”. There are also many other quotes that you can say to the Google Assistant and it will answer you back. Making for a pretty fun time, before you kick back and watch Home Alone this holiday season.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKYABI-dGEA
Background: Google has been putting out some rather interesting commercials for the Google Assistant in recent weeks. And this is perhaps the best one that Google has done. It has also put out a “behind-the-scenes” for how it made this commercial, which is always a pretty cool video to check out. This commercial is genius for a few reasons. One, it plays on the nostalgia of the movie, but it also showcases what the Google Assistant can do. And it does this without being “nerdy” about it. Google could always just explain that you can create Routines with the Google Assistant now, but it knows that this is going to be a cooler way to get the point across. As people will see the “Operating Kevin” routine in the commercial and realize that their Google Home can also do this. And then adding in some of these new quotes that you can say to the Google Assistant now (likely for a limited time), makes this a pretty awesome commercial.
Impact: This may not lead to a lot of people buying any of Google’s “Home” products (the Home, Home Max, Home Mini or Home Hub), but it will definitely get some people talking, and likely a good bit of laughter as well. Which is something we could all use in today’s age. If you haven’t picked up a Google Home yet, it does make a really great stocking stuffer, especially since the Google Home Mini is currently sitting at around $30, which makes it a pretty insane price for a small smart speaker that also has the Google Assistant built-in. The Google Home, and more importantly the Google Assistant, is always being updated and getting new features – today is a good example of that. So if you are skeptical of picking up the Google Home Mini, it’s definitely a good purchase, as well as the Google Home (which is now a bit cheaper than its original price of $129) and the Google Home Max or Google Home Hub if you are looking for a smart display. Many of the products that were shown off in this commercial are also on sale right now as part of the many holiday sales going on right now. If you want to check out the behind-the-scenes of this commercial, you can watch it in the video down below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeiJDTWxlM0