To market with Oscar

After that Gold Rush grilling at Christmastime, it's no wonder Oscar producer Bill Condon hasn't made a public peep about what we can all expect from the 81st Annual Academy Awards. (And he's probably sworn off holiday cookies forever).

He and fellow producer Larry Mark won't spill any details, but that has not stopped the first-ever joint ad campaign from the Academy and ABC, which is using "The Biggest Movie Event of the Year" as its headline. 

The exec heading up that effort is Michael Benson, co-executive vice president of marketing, ABC Entertainment, who said the ads are using the mystery as a selling point and that there are plenty of strong themes in this year's nominated crop of movies and performances to hang a marketing hat on. He gave Gold Rush some lowdown on how the network and the Academy will try to lure people to the three-hour live telecast.

GR: How is this year's push for the Oscars different from the past?

MB: We wanted to reinvent what we do to promote the Oscars, so we engaged an outside ad agency (Omelet, L.A.). We've always had a collaborative relationship with the Academy, but this is the first time we've hired an agency. We all came up with ideas and decided to use the theme, The Biggest Movie Event of the Year.

GR: When did all the work begin?

MB: A month after last year's show, we started working on this year's show.

GR: Was that because of the ratings (which sank to a record low of 32 million viewers)?

MB: Well, everything is about the ratings. But it was a combination of that and taking into account the audience and its changing habits.

GR: Ratings tend to be low when most people haven't seen the nominated movies or aren't that familiar with the actors. How will you deal with the challenges that come from having "The Reader" and Freida Pinto in the mix?

MB: We'll be talking a lot about personal achievement, overcoming the odds, overcoming obstacles. There are a lot of underdogs in this race, and we think people can really relate to that.

In addition to ads on TV, radio, in magazines, newspapers, online, in theaters and elsewhere (and no, Benson won't talk about the bank behind it all) there's a revamped Oscar site -- now with interactivity! -- to try to pull people into the season's Big Show. Will it work on you? Let us know.

Comments

[adina ringler]

i wish that they would have done a teaser campaign more like CLOVERFIELD. It's worth checking out though. I am watching the Oscars regardless.