Amazon wants to turn Prime Day into more than just a week of deals. And frankly, it makes perfect sense given how the brand has evolved in Spain. To celebrate 15 years of amazon.es and a decade of Prime Video, the company has announced “El Jaleíto Prime,” a free event taking place on June 17th in Madrid with live music, activities, and, of course, a strong focus on Prime. The name is no coincidence: Amazon is clearly playing on that very Spanish idea of improvising plans, making a lot of noise, and turning any gathering into a mini-party.
The proposal will take place in The Lenovo Garage, Madrid's former drive-in cinema, And it will feature performances by Abraham Mateo, Cristina Lora, and Luc Loren, presented by Amazon Music. Beyond the concert, the event will also serve as a warm-up for Prime Day, Amazon's major sales event reserved for Prime members. Here, the company takes the opportunity to remind everyone of everything included in the subscription: fast shipping, Prime Video, Amazon Music, Luna, ebooks, photo storage, and even free delivery with Just Eat. Personally, I've always felt that Prime stopped being just "free shipping" a long time ago; now it functions more like a kind of gigantic digital package where Amazon tries to keep you within its ecosystem. And seeing how they integrate shopping, streaming, video games, and everyday services, the strategy is working quite well for them.
There's also an interesting takeaway from all this. Amazon no longer communicates Prime Day solely as an aggressive discount campaign, but as a much more emotional and personal brand experience."El Jaleíto Prime" fits perfectly with that idea of community, entertainment and pop culture that they have been trying to reinforce in Spain for years. Whether the event will actually bring the brand closer to the user or is simply a massive marketing campaign disguised as a free festival is another matter entirely, because ultimately it all revolves around acquiring and retaining Prime subscriptions. Even so, it's hard to deny that Amazon knows very well how to generate conversation and turn something as simple as an online sale into an almost cultural event. Tickets are now available for free until capacity is reached.