Madison Avenue used the nation’s biggest media event to tell consumers of massive, destabilizing changes coming soon to their lives — but in a good way….?
General Motors, one of the nation’s most staid corporations, put its marketing heft behind a fleet of electric vehicles, using revivals of media favorites like “Austin Powers” and “The Sopranos.” Verizon touted quickening telecommunications service by reviving Jim Carrey in his role as “The Cable Guy” and T-Mobile pressed viewers to think about 5G by showing Dolly Parton with a phone pressed close to her chest. Rocket Mortgage dressed its digital service in bright Barbie overtones along with the familiar site of Anna Kendrick. Uber Eats pushed people at home to consider its service for cosmetics, diapers, and odd-smelling candles — not just groceries. Viewers got to hear about cryptocurrency exchanges,…
