Stars were in the spotlight this past Sunday at the Oscars celebration, but they weren’t the only ones who walked away with attention. Brands played a significant role during the evening’s festivities – not only to those seated in the Kodak Theatre, but to the viewers at home, all 43.7 million of them.
The interactive show included scratch-off lottery tickets, pizza deliveries, and selfies – lots of selfies. Major advertising campaigns from Samsung and Pepsi hoped to earn significant recognition during the broadcast. One thing is certain: The efforts generated an onslaught of social media chatter.
Post-show, Samsung has been by far the most talked about advertiser – but not for all the right reasons. The company paid for product placements throughout the duration of the show and gave ABC its smartphones to incorporate into the broadcast. Product placement has been used in broadcasting and film for years, but host Ellen DeGeneres and social media savvy viewers took things to the next level. Using a Samsung Galaxy s5, DeGeneres and friends managed to shut down Twitter by orchestrating a remarkable group selfie. The tweet took Twitter down and broke a record for retweets, currently totaling more than 3.3 million. “Samsung Galaxy” was one of the top tweeted phrases throughout the evening and afterward, even without a mention in the original upload.
But this is a case where going by the numbers alone could be deceiving. Much of the focus on Samsung was for the fact that, after the paid selfie had gone out, host DeGeneres immediately returned to tweeting backstage from her iPhone. Samsung was subjected to a wave of ridicule, not just on Twitter and blogs, but from major media outlets as well. This attention did not necessarily build brand affinity or increase consumers’ likelihood to purchase the product.
Meanwhile, Pepsi created a “Mini Hollywood” ad to introduce its new product, the Mini Pepsi. Our research of Super Bowl advertising has revealed that new product launches can garner a lot of attention during a live broadcasted event, if executed correctly. Pepsi’s ad peaked at 1,200 tweet mentions per minute at one point during the evening, the highest total of the night
The Oscars proved to be an excellent venue to drive social chatter and as our research has shown, engaging consumers in social conversations can be effective at building brand affinity and generating actual purchasing – when it is consistent with brand truths. Striking that balance of captivating audiences while also conveying the right message about your brand is key to maximizing ROI on advertising – whether for live events or any other day.
