LIVE CHAT: THE 2008 ACADEMY AWARDS

We missed our chance to do WestminsterDogShowFreak, so instead we launched OscarFreak, dedicated to the Academy Awards, which trails only the Super Bowl as an ad showcase. On Sunday, we hosted a live chat to critique the Oscar-night ads. 

See bios of the participants here.
Here is the full transcript:

8:00 p.m. ET

Barbara Lippert: reege is just slightly better on the red carpet than star jones
Bob Moore: WAY CUTER.
Rob Schwartz: The "dread" carpet.
Bob Moore: sorry for the upper case. got carried away.
Rob Schwartz: Hi, Bob. Nice to chat with you again.
Barbara Lippert: way.
Bob Moore: Heya Rob
Barbara Lippert: Hi bob. (said with a french accent.)
Bob Moore: This s should be fun--not only do I not have my laptop, the tv is in the other room so I'm goin on sound alone. Plus, it's my turn to cook tonight. . .
Rob Schwartz: Bonjour mes amis...
Todd Grant: hey folks, how's it going?
Rob Schwartz: Vinnie Barbarino!
Eleftheria Parpis: hi everyone! thanks for joining us all tonight.
Bob Moore: Hi fellow tedster, toddster.
Barbara Lippert: hiar spray, hair plugs. jon travlota looks like a vulcan.
Bob Moore: Yo Ellie
Rob Schwartz: Ha, Barbara!
Todd Grant: i'm gonna just start right in, john travolta has very odd hair tonight

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Published on February 24, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0)
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The posters for all 79 Best Picture winners

Movie Poster Addict lives up to its name by showing the posters from all 79 Best Picture Oscar winners on one page.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Published on February 22, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0)
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You and me and the Oscars corroboree

Here’s the latest Oscars advertising news:
-- Stuart Elliott has whipped up yet another Oscars preview, focusing on marketers’ relief over the end of the writers’ strike, allowing their “elaborate and expensive” marketing plans centered on the Oscars to proceed. (The New York Times)
-- OscarFreak’s corporate overlord, The Nielsen Co., weighs in with an impressive 2008 Guide to the Academy Awards, offering salient data including past TV ratings, box-office numbers for the current Best Picture nominees, related music sales, blog buzz, demographics and historical costs for 30-second spots on the telecast. (Nielsen)
-- Adweek’s Barbara Lippert critiques the new MasterCard campaign, which premieres during the Oscars on Sunday. She writes: “It brings new meaning to the phrase, ‘The envelope, please.’ ” (Adweek)
-- The Los Angeles Times publishes its own Oscars preview, saying the telecast is “a favorite of advertisers, who plunk down millions of dollars to be associated with Hollywood—even during a year like this one, when TV viewing levels are down and most people haven’t even seen the films that have been nominated for top honors.” (Los Angeles Times)
-- Australia’s The Age looks at how studios market an actor’s performances (like that of Cate Blanchett in I’m Not There) to the Academy in the hopes of securing an Oscar, which it turn can boost a film’s bottom line. (The Age)
-- Another Australian paper, the Sydney Morning Herald, meanwhile, believes that “this year’s Oscar telecast will be Tinseltown’s corroboree.” You’ll have to read the story to find out what a corroboree is. (Sydney Morning Herald)

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Published on February 22, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Should HBO bid to air the Oscars telecast?

Thanks to this doctored ABC promo, we get to imagine a whole different kind of Oscars ceremony, one in which the winners are free to curse at will during their acceptance speeches — and, as it turns out, free not to thank the Academy or their agents or their fans, but rather to hurl two-word epithets at them (or, in the case of Julia Roberts, deliver a more extended and nasty set of insults). ABC surely hopes this spoof doesn’t travel far, as it invites visions of a more entertaining Oscars night, one that a certain pay-TV network would be more than happy to air. Via Defamer.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Published on February 21, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Is Jon Stewart ready for the big night?

Here's the latest Oscars advertising news:
-- A Los Angeles Times reporter argues that the Oscars telecast needs Jon Stewart now more than ever. (The Los Angeles Times)
-- Meanwhile, Stewart talks to The New York Times about having such a short time to prepare for the show following the writers’ strike: “It’s like: I can name that tune in seven notes. I can do the Oscars in nine days. No, I can do the Oscars in eight days.” (The New York Times)
-- A top researcher at TNS Media Intelligence explains why the Oscars are a hit with advertisers. (Media Life)
-- USA Today offers a nice roundup of what to expect from some marketers this Sunday. (USA Today)
-- BuzzLogic taps the blogosphere’s ”influencers“ to pick the favorites for this year’s Academy Awards. (Earth Times)
-- Epson basks in the glory of the Oscars, as its Epson Stylus C120 printer has been selected to print up the credentials for the ceremony! (Prime Newswire)
-- In case any Oscar nominees or presenters experience unwelcome hunger pangs during the ceremony, Appetite Down will be on hand in the gifting suite, giving out its all-natural appetite-suppression lozenges. (Earth Times)
-- In a Craigslist ad, a guy says his girlfriend will do anything—really, anything—for two tickets to the Academy Awards. (Defamer)

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Published on February 20, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0)
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'Green' limos have limelight on Oscar night

More than a few Hollywood stars fancy themselves as eco-crusaders, so it's no surprise that green-friendly marketers see the Academy Awards as a chance to get some high-wattage free advertising. One company in particular that’s feeling the love is Eco-Limo, a 3-year-old car service whose fleet is comprised entirely of hybrid or biofuel-powered vehicles. The CEO of Eco-Limo, the unusually named Y Fray (shown here), is known as the environmentally friendly limo-driver to the stars. “Leo [DiCaprio] is a client every now and then,” Fray says. “Things have just blossomed by word of mouth. We have not done any advertising or marketing.” This year, the Oscars telecast itself aims to reduce its carbon footprint by selecting “supplies and services with a sensitivity toward reducing the threats we face from global warming, species extinction, deforestation, toxic waste, and hazardous chemicals in our water and food.”

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Published on February 19, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0)
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M&Ms launch their own Oscars party online

M&Ms have been involved with the Oscars for years. This year, they've put together this ad showing an M&M-ified Lisa Rinna and Joey Fatone, the Dancing with the Stars dancers turned red-carpet interviewers. (Joan and Melissa Rivers would have made amusing M&Ms also.) In addition, there’s a whole M&Ms Oscars Web site, where the Red M&M gives red-carpet tips, you can dress up Green for the black-tie event, and also print out Oscar bingo sheets and order custom-printed M&Ms.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Published on February 18, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Dove is back with another Oscars contest

User-generated content may be mired in a bit of a backlash, but Dove is putting a brave, well-moisturized face on another UCG contest for the Oscars. This time, Dove asked women to define their views on everyday luxury in a 30-second ad as part of its Dove Supreme Cream Oil Body Wash Ad Contest. You can vote on five finalists over at the Web site. Then, during the broadcast on Sunday, Amy Brenneman will reveal the top two final ads during a commercial break, and ask viewers to vote online or via text message for a winner. One of the spots was done by Sheena Narehood, 22, who is an academic support coordinator at a psychiatric clinic. Narehood says she won’t be crushed if she doesn’t win. “I don’t want a career in film and television,” she says. “I’m perfectly happy in coordination.”

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Published on February 18, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (1)
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TCM puts a new spin on 31 Days of Oscar

Turner Classic Movies is again celebrating the Academy Awards with its now-annual 31 Days of Oscar programming. They’ve organized the schedule both by date (in the evenings) and theme (during the days) this year: Monday nights feature Oscar-winning and -nominated films from the 1920s and ’30s, Tuesday nights feature the ’40s, etc., up though Sundays, when movies from the 1990s and 2000s are airing. Daytime programming is sorted by movie theme—the remaining categories include war films (Feb. 21), Alfred Hitchcock movies (Feb. 23) and epics (March 2). They did a bang-up job with the promo, too . 

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Published on February 17, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Oscars give 'Star Wars' grudging respect

The first Star Wars movie did remarkably well at the Oscars, winning six awards — for sound, original score, film editing, visual effects, set decoration and costume design. It also scored nominations for best supporting actor (Alec Guinness), best director (George Lucas), best original screenplay (also Lucas) and best picture. After that, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences cooled significantly to Mr. Lucas and his droids. The Empire Strikes Back won one Oscar (best sound), but the other four films won nothing — and scored precious few nominations. Still, the franchise does get some belated love with this year’s official Academy Awards poster, shown here. It was designed by Drew Struzan, the veteran poster illustrator who made the one-sheets for all six of the Star Wars films. (Struzan’s son Christian executed this design.) Read more about Drew Struzan’s work here. The 80th Academy Awards ceremony is scheduled for Feb. 24, and will proceed now that the writers’ strike didn’t sink it like the Titanic (best picture, 1998).

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Published on February 15, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0)
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