Amazon scores advertising hit with ‘Joy Ride’ commercial

You can’t help but smile and tingle inside – and perhaps even shed a tear – every time Amazon’s holiday “Joy Ride” commercial comes on television.

Writing for Adweek magazine, Dr. Mark Ritson of Southern Tasmania, Australia, who is a global brand consultant and international marketing guru, tells us that the commercial spot is about “three elderly women who are sitting on a snowy bench watching children sledding.”

They picture themselves long ago as young girls sledding down the same hill. One of the women slyly fires up her Amazon app and places an order for merchandise.

 

The very next day, three sled-worthy cushions arrive and “the three friends are barreling down the slope with grins that threaten to outshine the Christmas lights,” in Dr. Ritson’s view.

Nico Casal performs a soft piano cover of The Beatles’ classic “In My Life” as “old friends are briefly, magically, transformed into children once again.”

 

“If the spot feels comfortingly familiar, it’s because it is. “Joy Ride” debuted back in 2023 and quickly found footing as Amazon’s most lauded holiday effort,” Dr. Ritson said. The commercial was developed by Amazon’s in-house creative team and Hungry Man Productions of Los Angeles.

“According to research firm System1, the ad was not only Amazon’s most effective of all time, it tested almost off the scale for emotional resonance and brand building,” Dr. Ritson said. “But what makes the ad interesting now is that Amazon decided to bring it back as its main emotional brand-building commercial for 2025.”

“While some in the industry might regard the move as a backward step or a signal of creative exhaustion on the part of Amazon, it very much signals a brand and a marketing team who know their advertising onions.”

 Dr. Mark Ritson

“For several years, effectiveness scholars have been noting that despite a desperate desire for newness on the part of clients and agencies, existing ads often outperform the new ones created to replace them,” Dr. Ritson said.

“The core message is that marketers get sick of their ads much quicker than consumers do. In fact, it’s apparent that most ads are being pulled and replaced long before they have the chance to reach their maximum potential. The reason? Marketers spend weeks or months creating a new ad. Once it hits the market, they are already sick of it and keen to make something new.”

“But the data on effectiveness and longevity suggests many campaigns could and should run for years. We are taking our cakes out of the oven far too early in this industry. Partly because we like making new stuff. Partly because we aren’t attuned to the consumers we target.”

“To be clear, if you have a mediocre ad, it’s probably going to stay that way. But when a company like Amazon creates a proven winner – as it did with “Joy Ride” – then the logic for running it over multiple years is clear.

“Claudine Cheever, vice president of brand and marketing at Amazon, is a scholar of advertising effectiveness,” Dr. Ritson added. “It was her call to run the ad again this year, and her logic is clear and impressive. She knows the campaign delivered a literally perfect score for emotional impact and brand building in 2024, and she’s confident it will do so again.”

 

“She has also craftily saved the 20% of her budget that would normally go toward the creative production of a new ad and moved all of it to the working capital of media spend.”

“Amazon’s ‘Joy Ride’ ad isn’t just a heartwarming reprise – it’s a commercial masterstroke. And it signals a sea change in how marketers and advertising agencies should think about the metabolism of creative work.”

“Make fewer ads. Make better ads,” Dr. Ritson advised. “Spend more on initial creative. And more on testing to get them right. Then run them for longer, ignoring the frenetic energy of those telling you to create more content all the time.”

“Like the three old ladies sitting at the top of a snowy hill, enjoy the ride.”

 

 

Amazon believes in ‘Joy Is Shared’ 

Jo Shoesmith, vice president and global chief creative officer at Amazon, said the sledding story fits into the company’s overall 2025 campaign theme of “Joy Is Shared.”

It’s a “reminder that sometimes the joy you receive from doing something special, for those you love, can uplift us all at this time of year”…(and it all comes so nicely packaged together through Amazon’s shopping selection and convenience.)

Maya Waterman, the lead character of “Joy Ride,” commented: “Nostalgia in older age can often be framed as something overly sentimental that you yearn for, so I feel immensely proud that we were able to flip that narrative on its head and tell a story of three women who don’t just relive memories, but make new ones. I hope audiences of all ages relate to that feeling of shared joy.”

 

Annie O’Donnell, one of Maya’s friends in the story, said, “At our age, it’s not uncommon to be typecast. And, while I will happily play the role of someone’s sweet grandmother, it is always exciting to be able to show a different side. An opportunity to shake off preconceptions and show we are not just ‘young at heart’ but still throwing ourselves into life.”

 

Jaclyn Roth interviewed the three “sledding grannies” in 2023 for the Morning Honey digital media outlet. “The ability to share joy has no age upper age limit.”

 

“I think it’s important for people to know that we are vital, and we do have lives, even if we have gray hair,” Susan Grace said.

 

O’Donnell said: “I hope this commercial gives other older women hope and reminds them that ‘it ain’t over until it’s over.’”

Waterman said: “Hopefully, the ad inspires others to keep their loved ones close and continue making new holiday memories that they’ll cherish.”

Roth said the original concept for the commercial was to have two men and one woman be the focal point, but things quickly shifted. While waiting at a call back (second) audition, the three women started chatting. “We were having such a great old time, I think they had to tell us to shut up at one point,” O’Donnell said.

“I guess they were running low on men, because they called the three of us in to audition together, and as we walked in the door, I heard the director say, ‘I love this group.’ So, it was supposed to be two men and a woman, but the three of us had bonded in the outside waiting room – just laughing and enjoying each other’s company – and somehow that showed.”

Waterman added, “I’d say it was a little bit of magic. We all just hit it off (we are rather outspoken old ladies!). You never know in casting, or life for that matter.”

Grace said that all auditions should be willing to take a chance and do something different. “More production teams should keep an open mind and be open and willing to make spontaneous creative changes based on chemistry and how actors perform together,” she remarked.

Grace grew up sledding every weekend, and she was psyched to get out into the wintry wonderland, Roth wrote.

“I had a little trepidation, to be honest, because I’m less physical than I used to be.” Grace said.

“But I thought, ‘Well, I’m doing it. Whatever they ask me to do, I’ll do it.’ And that’s because there was so much genuine care for us that it made me want to work harder and do a better job than I might have in another situation.”

O’Donnell said: “After we wrapped the last day at the studio, I got in my car to go home and I thought to myself, ‘I don’t want to leave.’ The whole experience was just extraordinary.”

Waterman also was a bit nervous about sledding, since she had both hips replaced, but she was ecstatic to be surrounded by “these wonderful people.”

“The whole experience from the beginning to end was the most fun I’ve had in decades,” she said. “My favorite part was sledding down the mountain and looking up at the snow-covered peaks with the sun peeking through and my friends’ joyous faces.”

“For me, it was a very emotional experience on the mountain, an inner and outer expression of feelings and emotions, which I hope others connect with this holiday season. The feelings of memories stirring, youthful days gone by, and embracing joyful days ahead with family and friends.”

 

While filming was occurring at Mammoth Mountain, at an elevation of 11,000 feet, in California’s Sierra Nevada mountain range, the three characters enjoyed meals together in the lodge.

 

They still get together regularly to socialize as the “maidens of the mountain.”

Waterman offered a bit of philosophy: “You can do it, just like the three of us did. In life, you have to take the moment and run with it, because you never know. For me, it was a pivotal moment on the mountain. There was so much emotion, especially when I saw my younger self. I had instant tears!”

 

“I hope to continue to inspire others by writing poetry and stories that uplift the youth with my life experiences. Life is NEVER what you think. Anything can happen.”