THB #499: Oscargasm - Selling The Oscar Show

This is , I believe, the third time I have written about this issue in recent weeks and the reason I am boring you with it is that I find myself discussing it with people and then finding simpler and simpler answers as to what is happening and what needs to happen.

The last piece was about the changing culture and how the industry keeps wanting to shorten windows, but somehow The Oscar show sees itself as being above that, in spite of severely declining ratings.

My new thought is very specifically about the marketing of the Oscar show.

The Academy has become a lazy marketer, very much like some of the major IP brands that are out there for which distributor marketers decided after however many hit openings that all they had to do was to tell the audience that the next film was coming and wait for the big weekend.

It used to be enough to run ads with Billy Crystal leaning up against a giant Oscar statue and cracking a joke or two in a 30 second spot… and the ratings took care of themsel…