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Filming Our Amazon Commercial With Atlas Senior Living

Written by Matt Smith | December 16, 2024

And the Oscar goes to….

Filming Our Amazon Commercial With Atlas Senior Living

After spending weeks preparing for my huge role in the recently released “Differentiation for Atlas Senior Living,” I faced a problem. What do I do if the film team wants to shoot my “bad” side and not my good side? As everyone knows, my left side is my good side. I have less sun damage, and the disgusting cyst growing out of my temple is on my right side. I look 20-30 years younger from my left side. So, how do I make sure the film crew recognizes and respects this?

Well, as it turns out, it didn’t matter because I was in the video for about a total of 3 seconds. I’d like to think that it’s because we had so much good content from others, especially the residents themselves, that there was no point in using my scenes. 

What a great time we had with the Amazon crew, the Atlas team, and especially the residents. From singing Karaoke to having a drink with Beverly at Bernard’s Bar, we got to take in the impact we can have as Speak2. 

"Alexa, order Room Service"

Amazon has released a handful of video stories that help people understand how adopting Alexa can positively impact their assisted and/or independent living communities. They show residents asking for things and interacting with Alexa so they can stay connected and engaged with technology as they age. It’s a powerful story because Alexa truly opens up a world of communication seemingly lost for many of this demographic. Tapping and swiping on a smartphone is not an option for many. So, getting content and requesting services with their voice is a life-altering experience.

But this buries the lead. The fact is that because residents now have a way to consume content and ask for the services they want, it emboldens staff to create more content, send more announcements, and be more responsive to services than ever before. We see more and more that the impact is more for staff than residents. Staff can use their voice to record interactions, take notes, and participate with residents instead of feeling like they live in two different universes. 

Best Dressed Supporting Actor

All of this is really just the subplot to my time on camera. In this video, at exactly 1:55-1:57, you get to witness one of the most dynamic film performances of the 2020’s. You’ll notice that I really mean what I say by my raised eyebrows for about 1.20 seconds. Wow. I never thought I’d be up for an award or best dressed, but I think both are inevitable at this point.

Despite getting my bad side.

(Footnote: I had the cyst removed as it was pressing on a nerve, so now it’s just a scar).

Watch the Video