That’s Entertainment! The Oscars Online March 8th, 2010
How do televised events like the Oscars draw both a broader and younger audience? This year, in addition to doubling the number of best picture-nominated films, the 82nd Annual Academy Awards launched a social media campaign replete with smartphone apps, a trivia competition, and live Twitter feeds from the award ceremony.
To kick off Oscar’s social media makeover, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences streamed the nominations announcement live on Facebook – encouraging fans to watch and share their reactions with friends. The free Oscar smartphone app, downloaded approximately 25,000 times, shared trailers of nominated films and encouraged users to make their own winner predictions. And Oscar.com captured viewer data for its marketing efforts by encouraging consumers to register to receive mobile alerts, participate in the site’s “Live Challenge” trivia game, and receive email updates and other communications.
Social media even helped catapult a relatively unknown film to “Best Animated Feature” status. With a limited budget, the company promoting “The Secret of Kells” chose to market the movie via social media. The filmmaker’s blog, which chronicled the movie’s production since 2005, helped promote “The Secret of Kells” Edinburgh Film Festival win. Screenings were scheduled at animation schools, and a viral word-of-mouth campaign on Facebook and Twitter propelled the fan base from there. Animator and “super-fan” Jamie Bolio served as a citizen publicist, promoting the film and sharing DVDs of the production with the Los Angeles cartooning industry. While the film didn’t take the top award on Oscar night– it’s widely agreed the picture would never have been in contention without this creative online effort.
For those who find the red carpet more fascinating than the awards, ABC streamed its live red carpet show at Oscar.com for two hours prior to the show, and attached it to a Facebook discussion engine. There was even a designated spot on the red carpet for celebrities to answer fan questions posted on the Academy’s Facebook page. And if you missed acceptance speeches or want to see the extended, backstage version, Oscar.com has all of these clips and more ready to view at a click of a button. Now that’s entertainment your way brought to you by broadband.