Scarlett Johansson and Colin Jost, stars of “Avengers” and “Weekend Update,” famously married after meeting on “SNL.” They will now appear in their debut collaboration, a Super Bowl commercial for Amazon’s Alexa.

“There’s something beautiful about the fact that they’ve never done anything together,” says Claudine Cheever, Amazon’s vice president of worldwide brand and strategic marketing, in an interview. “It’s a mystery element: how do they get along?”

Johansson and Jost explore what it would be like if Amazon’s Alexa speech device could read minds in a 60-second ad set to debut early in the fourth quarter on NBC’s broadcast of Super Bowl LVI on February 13. The results are both humorous and cringeworthy, and the actors “were highly involved in the joke writing,” according to Cheever.

Advertisers like PepsiCo and Anheuser-Busch InBev get a lot of attention for their annual Super Bowl appearances, but Amazon has been a consistent sponsor for the past six years, using the Big Game to promote anything from new shows on its streaming-video service to its many home gadgets. In addition to the Alexa campaign, Amazon plans to air a commercial advertising its new ownership of the NFL’s “Thursday Night Football” as part of a massive series of rights transactions between the league and multiple media firms.

Amazon has always depended on popular personalities to spread its message. The business has already worked with Cardi B, Rebel Wilson, Harrison Ford, and Anthony Hopkins, among others.

What are the most important factors to consider when determining somebody to hire? “Celebrities work well for us when they are willing to poke fun at themselves and have fun with themselves rather than just show up and be themselves,” Cheever says. “It’s something we think about all the time when we’re casting.” And it allows the corporation to embrace some of the quirkiness inherent in Alexa, which sometimes responds to customers in unexpected ways.

Jost is the latest in a long line of current “Saturday Night Live” cast members who have moved into the world of advertising. Kate McKinnon, Kenan Thompson, Pete Davidson, and Chloe Fineman are just a few of the “SNL” cast members who are increasingly appearing in commercials for companies ranging from Verizon to Smartwater.

Amazon plans to distribute teasers on social media starring other self-effacing celebrities, such as Jonathan Van Meter from the Netflix series “Queer Eye,” to bring attention to its latest Super Bowl attempt for Alexa. And a 90-second teaser featuring Jost and Johansson has already begun to circulate, allowing viewers to watch a slew of jokes that were simply too long to fit into the 60-second version of the ad.

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