Inside Macy's 2025 Ads: The Full Cast Revealed
- 01. The Macy's 2025 ad lineup and their stars
- 02. Core cast of the 2025 Macy's holiday spots
- 03. Types of 2025 Macy's commercials and their structure
- 04. Comparative cast details across Macy's 2024-2025 campaigns
- 05. Backstory and context of Macy's star casting strategy
- 06. Why Macy's stuck with this 2025 cast structure
The Macy's 2025 ad lineup and their stars
In 2025, the core face of Macy's main holiday advertising lineup is actress Alison Brie, who reprises her role as the "Macy's Gift Guide" across multiple national TV and digital spots, including the "Holiday Gift Guide: Last-Minute Shopping" and a "Holiday Hotline" extension produced in late 2025. These campaigns also feature supporting actors such as comic actor Matt Bush as a shopper mentee, plus guest celebrity callers like singer-songwriter Conan Gray, NFL quarterback Baker Mayfield, and game-show host John O'Hurley in the telephone-style gifting hotline spots.
Core cast of the 2025 Macy's holiday spots
The 2025 "Gift Guide" suite evolved from Macy's 2024 holiday campaign, which introduced Alison Brie as a personified, stylized version of the retailer's annual gift catalog, dressed in a tailored red jacket bearing Macy's signature red stars. By 2025, Macy's expanded this concept into a multi-adlic sequence, airing throughout the U.S. holiday season and prominently during the 99th Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and its associated TV broadcasts.
The principal cast for the 2025 material centers on:
- Alison Brie as the Macy's Gift Guide - credited in multiple "Holiday Gift Guide" iterations, including the last-minute shopping and "Holiday Hotline" formats.
- Matt Bush as the Gift Guide's mentee or shopper, appearing in early-cycle 2025-style spots where Brie guides a confused customer through department-store gifting choices.
- Conan Gray, a pop singer-songwriter, who plays one of the first callers to the Macy's Holiday Hotline, using a scripted but humorous exchange about gift-selection dilemmas.
- Baker Mayfield, the NFL quarterback, who appears in a separate call segment, blending his athlete persona with a lighthearted gifting conversation tailored to sport-themed presents.
- John O'Hurley, best known as a game-show host, who rounds out the hotline cast with a more polished, banter-driven ad-segment persona aimed at older-demographic shoppers.
According to industry observers, casting a single "anchor" personality like Alison Brie across multiple 2025 ads helped Macy's achieve message consistency while letting the brand rotate guest stars to keep the holiday advertising lineup fresh across platforms.
Types of 2025 Macy's commercials and their structure
Macy's 2025 campaign includes several distinct commercial formats, each with its own narrative and cast configuration. The primary formats are:
- "Holiday Gift Guide: Last-Minute Shopping" - A 60-second TV spot where Alison Brie appears in motion, guiding a shopper (often played by Matt Bush or a rotating extra) through key categories such as apparel, beauty, and home, all narrated around the phrase "Macy's is the where, you know the why."
- "Holiday Hotline" extensions - Shot in a telephone-booth-style set, this series features a single host (Alison Brie) answering calls from different celebrity "customers," each of whom plays a slightly exaggerated version of their public persona.
- Parade-tie-in promos - Shorter, 15-second teasers that run during the 99th Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade telecasts, reusing footage of Alison Brie and the Macy's Gift Guide aesthetic to point viewers toward the Macy's website and app.
- Social-only mini-spots - Vertical-format clips adapted for TikTok and Instagram Reels, often cutting the same Alison Brie scenes into tighter, 15-second "tip" style segments such as "Last-Minute Gift Hacks" or "Avoiding the Mall Rush."
Industry data from ad-tracking firm iSpot.tv show that the "Holiday Gift Guide: Last-Minute Shopping" alone ran more than 1,200 times across national broadcast and cable in the 2025 holiday quarter, with roughly 60% of airings occurring in the two weeks leading up to Christmas. This pattern suggests Macy's relied heavily on the core holiday advertising lineup starring Brie to maintain top-of-mind awareness during peak shopping weeks.
Comparative cast details across Macy's 2024-2025 campaigns
The table below compares key roles and formats used in Macy's 2024-2025 holiday advertising, highlighting how the commercial cast expanded around Alison Brie's central character.
| Campaign / Year | Lead Star(s) | Co-stars / Guest Appearances | Ad Format Focus |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 Holiday Gift Guide | Alison Brie (Macy's Gift Guide) | Matt Bush as mentee; minor in-store shoppers | Single-narrator, in-store gifting guide with Brie narrating categories. |
| 2025 "Last-Minute Shopping" | Alison Brie, voice and on-camera lead | Rotating shoppers, some with Matt Bush; background extras as "gift seekers" | Time-pressure narrative stressing quick decisions in key departments. |
| 2025 "Holiday Hotline" | Alison Brie as hotline host | Conan Gray, Baker Mayfield, John O'Hurley as callers | Telephone-style vignettes emphasizing emotional reasons behind gifts. |
| 2025 Parade / TV Promos | Alison Brie (archival and new footage) | None, or cameos from Macy's Thanksgiving Parade performers | Brand-awareness reminders during the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. |
This progression shows Macy's intentionally turning the 2024 single-character concept into a broader advertising franchise in 2025, using the same lead actor across formats while layering in distinct guest personalities to broaden appeal.
Backstory and context of Macy's star casting strategy
Macy's has leaned on high-profile faces since at least 2022, when an earlier brand campaign featured a rotating ensemble of celebrity designers and media personalities such as Martha Stewart, Usher, Jessica Simpson, Donald Trump, Sean "Diddy" Combs, and Emeril Lagasse. That "star designers" push emphasized Macy's wide portfolio of co-branded home and fashion lines rather than a single spokesperson, but it also primed viewers to expect recognizable faces in Macy's ads.
When Macy's pivoted in 2024 to naming a singular on-screen "Macy's Gift Guide," executives told trade press it was partly to cut through the clutter of holiday advertising noise and anchor the message around a single, repeatable character. By 2025, the same logic applied to the expanded "Holiday Hotline" and "Last-Minute Shopping" spots: consistent use of Alison Brie helped the brand register a 12% lift in aided recall of the Macy's Gift Guide concept among 18-49 viewers, according to internal data cited by a retail analyst at Retail Dive.
Why Macy's stuck with this 2025 cast structure
From a branding perspective, Macy's decision to keep Alison Brie as the through-line across the 2025 holiday advertising lineup aligns with research showing that repeating a single recognizable spokesperson in a category-specific role can boost both message recall and perceived expertise. By wrapping gifts, tone, and pacing around one character, Macy's avoided the "celebrity soup" effect that sometimes dilutes attention in ensemble campaigns.
At the same time, the inclusion of varied guest stars-spanning music, sports, and television-allowed the brand to tap into different fan bases without fragmenting the core Gift Guide narrative. Analysts estimate that this hybrid approach contributed to Macy's maintaining roughly 18% year-over-year growth in digital store traffic during the 2025 holiday period, measured by a third-party retail analytics firm that tracks Macy's online sessions. That combination of a stable lead actor and a rotating supporting cast makes the 2025 Macy's commercial cast a strong case study in how large retailers can balance consistency and variety in a single advertising season.
Key concerns and solutions for Inside Macys 2025 Ads The Full Cast Revealed
Who is the main Macy's Gift Guide actress in 2025?
The main Macy's Gift Guide actress in the 2025 holiday commercials is Alison Brie, best known for her roles in "Community," "GLOW," and "BoJack Horseman." She plays a stylized human version of Macy's printed gift catalog, appearing in "Last-Minute Shopping," "Holiday Hotline," and several parade-tie-in promos.
Who else appears in the Macy's 2025 holiday ads besides Alison Brie?
Besides Alison Brie, the Macy's 2025 holiday commercials prominently feature Matt Bush as a shopper mentee, Conan Gray as a singer-caller on the "Holiday Hotline," NFL player Baker Mayfield as a sports-fan caller, and game-show host John O'Hurley as a more traditional, talk-show-style guest. These secondary cast members appear in different segments of the same overall holiday advertising lineup, not necessarily in the same physical scene as Brie.
Are there any Macy's 2025 TV spots that don't feature Alison Brie?
Yes, Macy's 2025 ad schedule does include a small number of store-specific promos and regional TV spots that focus on doorbusters, loyalty programs, or local store events, and these segments often do not feature Alison Brie. Those ads instead use generic "Macy's shopper" talent or local influencers, while the nationally syndicated holiday spots retained Brie as the consistent lead.
How many Macy's 2025 commercials with Alison Brie are there?
While Macy's does not publish an exhaustive count of all unique cuts, ad-tracking platforms log at least three distinct 2025 Alison Brie-centric commercials: the main "Holiday Gift Guide: Last-Minute Shopping" spot, the "Holiday Hotline" variant, and a shorter "Holiday Hotline: Quick Call" edit used on digital platforms. Each of these exists in several length variants (60-, 30-, and 15-second), but the core cast and narrative structure remain the same across cuts.
Is Macy's using any designers or fashion celebrities in the 2025 ads?
In the primary 2025 holiday spots, Macy's shifted focus from standalone star designers such as Martha Stewart or Usher toward the unified "Gift Guide" concept built around Alison Brie, so explicit designer cameos are minimized in those national spots. However, Macy's still leans on its roster of designer brands (including labels previously associated with celebrity creators) in shot backgrounds and product tags, even if those personalities are not on-screen.
Where can I watch the Macy's 2025 commercials with the main cast?
The Macy's 2025 commercials starring Alison Brie and the supporting cast are available on Macy's official YouTube channel, where the "Macy's Gift Guide: Holidays" and "Last-Minute Shopping" spots are posted in full. They also appear across televised airings captured on ad-archive sites such as iSpot.tv and select streaming platforms during the 2025 holiday season.