Will you watch Oscar night gala? We surely will! But today, instead of betting on winners, we want to take a look at the event with the eye of a marketer. What do Oscars mean for advertisers? How big audience do they reach? Does the ceremony matter in the age of digital communication and social media?
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1. The biggest show
Oscars aren’t only a celebration of cinema, but also an event with tremendous marketing potential. It reached an audience of 43 million people in 2014., last year the number dropped by 18% to 37.3 million (the numbers refer only to viewers in the USA; source).
Only sports shows can gather more people. That’s why Oscars are sometimes called “a Superbowl for ladies.”
2. Oscars don’t end after the ceremony
Interestingly, on YouTube materials related to Oscars are searched 25 times more often on Monday after Oscars than on the big night. Don’t miss that opportunity.
3. Oscar multi-screening
According to Google research, during Oscars, we multiscreen mightily: while we watch the ceremony, we also search for additional information about winners and nominees on the second screen (mostly a smartphone). The overwhelming majority of the Oscar gala-related searches was on mobile devices. (source)
4. Materiały How to
We don’t only check the facts about the stars; we also look for Oscar’s how-to materials. The popularity of such content expanded in the last years. We want to mimic hairstyles and makeups from the red carpet, we’d like to buy a dress or a wristwatch similar to one worn by a star.
That’s a great option for brands. Let your customers feel like celebrities with your products!
5. Oscar crisis? The audience grows old
Many observers ask about the role of Oscars in the digital world. Today a nomination or an award isn’t a sure way to make a box office hit anymore. Movie makers, especially independent ones, have found new, more economical and effective ways to communicate with their audience (such as social media) and don’t have to rely on awards as much as they used to.
A diminishing role in the business is one thing. The second is the fact that Oscars’ audience is getting old: an age mediana last year was 52.8 and it grows each year (MarketWatch). The reason? Failure to address younger movie-goers.
6. Brands engaged
But for now, Oscars still gather the biggest public, so brands bend over and backwards to put their products on the red carpet. Some of them use the opportunity not only to entice the audience to buy but to deliver a bigger message.
That’s what Dove did: the brand tried to draw attention to the language we speak in social media about bodies (especially women’s bodies). Some of them are soaked with anger and frustration. To address the problem, the Dove team searched for hateful comments on the Oscar gala and answered them personally, calling for more empathy.
7. Give him that Oscar, or The Revenant’s marketing
The Revenant campaign was from the beginning addressed both to movie goers and to Academy members. Its core message was “This movie will finally give Leo the most deserved Oscar.” The second theme was highlighting the extreme environment in which the movie was shot.
Innaritu repeated consistently in each interview that the film required exceptional effort from all crew members. Shooting only in the natural light, subzero temperatures or eating a raw bison liver were only a few from the challenges the team must have faced. In other words, the campaign said: “Oscar for Leo!” and “We tried as hard as nobody else”. We have our fingers crossed on Sunday!
And what are your Oscar types? Do you follow the gala, or maybe Academy’s picks don’t matter to you at all? Let us know in comments!
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