If you watched Chris Hemsworth’s SNL episode live last weekend, you probably noticed that the pre-taped commercial parody spoofing the very serious Mindy Kaling American Express commercial was directly followed by the actual ad, and today Variety confirms that the move was, in fact, a calculated move on Amex’s part:
American Express already had plans for an ad featuring comic actress Mindy Kaling to air during Saturday’s broadcast, and NBC out of courtesy gave the financial-services giant and its media-buying agency, Mindshare, a heads-up about plans for the satirical piece to air, according to two people familiar with the situation. NBC in turn was asked to move the American Express commercial as close to the spoof as possible, these people said.
Between Cecily Strong and Michael Che’s Jeep commercials, the Hans and Franz State Farm spots that have been airing every Saturday, and the American Express parody, it looks like the amount of brand synergy at SNL is at an all-time high this season. Hopefully all this exposure for American Express doesn’t negatively affect the amount of people signing up for the SNL MasterCard.
