For the past couple years my post-Super Bowl ad reviews have been some of my highest trafficked, most read content on this blog. It’s only logical that I would look for ways to scale these successes. There’s only one Super Bowl but the Academy Awards also offer a more targeted, upscale opportunity for marketers to showcase their latest creative wares to a different set of buyers. And people are tuning in to award shows, too.
The 2010 Oscar broadcast increased viewership by 14% from the previous year. Of those viewers 13.3% reported being on the web chatting with friends while watching. Though Oscar ads carry a ‘lower’ price tag (just $1.75 million compared to the big game’s $3 million), there are fewer ads per hour than the Super Bowl so those that are shown have less clutter to compete with. In an era of declining broadcast ratings, award shows and big sporting events have become solid, DVR-proof ‘event television.’ They are special evenings where we as the audience let down the wall (raise the curtain?) and allow advertising to be part of the show rather than an interruption. In the spirit of providing the latest brand-driven insights, here are some highlights on the ads aired during the 83rd Annual Academy Awards …
JC Penney
As noted above, with a lower overall ad inventory it’s easy for an advertiser with an aggressive budget to make a big splash using repetition as JC Penney did last night. Promoted as the “exclusive retail advertiser” of the broadcast, JCP also had a solid strategy for their seven :30 spots. For some time, we’ve known that the retailer was planning to roll-out their new logo and tagline during the show. Take a sound identity update (tasteful Helvetica reboot), some relevant (if somewhat un-remarkable) creative, and tie it all together with consistent use of a fitting campaign theme (We make it affordable. You make it yours.) then multiply that by seven and you have the recipe for a strong night for a venerable brand in need of an update. Forgive the size of the video player but this cut shows all of their ads from Sunday, which are important to view as a series to get an idea of their Oscar impact.
Living Social
While I don’t have any sales data for competitors Groupon and Living Social, in the ad wars Living Social continues to gain ground. Their Super Bowl ad was genuinely funny. To their credit, rather than re-airing that spot they developed new creative that I think wisely takes the Oscar audience into consideration. As the red curtain goes up, we follow a couple through various experiences they have as the result of Living Social deals. Call me old school but I am sucker for fun creative that actually educates the audience on the brand. Thumbs up, Living Social.
Hyundai
I’ve got to talk about a car advertiser, right? Hyundai again took home the prize for being the exclusive auto advertiser of the Oscars, lending new meaning to the word exclusive as BMW among others clearly had spots in the show. The Hyundai spots seemed to be consistent with their current messaging with one notable exception — the absence of the dulcet tones of their pitchman Jeff Bridges. That’s because — and here’s a fun fact — the Academy forbids nominees to appear in commercials on the evening of the broadcast during the hour of their award. Because it would somehow influence voting that happened weeks ago or something … As Bridges was nominated again this year for True Grit, the automaker employed last year’s strategy of bringing on some A-list understudies for the night including Jason Batman in the spot above. This was my pick among their ad line-up as, again, it teaches you something new and innovative about the product. Plus knowing you can learn about your car on your iPad fosters a personal connection. iPad people are suckers for a good finger swipin’ commercial. Though for ‘advertiser’ I should have noted ‘Hyundai/Apple’ as the iPad is on display big time in these spots. Not a bad deal for Apple …
Outside of these stand-outs most of the pack was dominated by un-remarkable creative like J-Lo’s ho-hum Venus shaver spots for Gillette. Not bad. Not breakthrough either. There were also quite a few retreads of weak spots from the Super Bowl. Cars.com, Stella Artois: I’m looking at you. If you’re gonna re-air the spot on a big night like this, at least take advantage of an opportunity to build on the story, like Best Buy did with their Ozzy/Bieber alternate ending of their Super Bowl ad.
And since Justin Bieber just made my blog, that’s the orchestra’s cue to start playing me off. Those are my brand-driven insights on the 2011 Oscar ads. What did you think? What were the big hits and misses?
