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

February 22, 2008 in Oscars | Permalink