Oscars Ads Like Telecast — Lacked Impact, Says Edmunds.com Analysis

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Oscars Ads Like Telecast — Lacked Impact, Says Edmunds.com Analysis
March 18, 2008

By Dale Buss

Automotive ads aired during the February 24 telecast of the 80th annual Academy Awards were relatively lame in their impact — just like the Oscars show itself.

The movie-industry extravaganza failed to generate anywhere near the lift in vehicle consideration by online shoppers that was spurred by the Super Bowl broadcast three weeks earlier, according to an analysis by Edmunds.com.

Although some ads were winners, vehicle spots run during the Oscars broadcast on ABC, overall, produced unimpressive increases in shopper consideration of the featured vehicles, as measured by visits to their new-vehicle detail pages (NVDPs) on Edmunds.com. And the increased interest by consumers didn’t last nearly as long as did the uptick in consideration of vehicles advertised during the February 3 broadcast of Super Bowl XLII on Fox.

An interesting part of the pattern was the Oscars ads produced practically no impact during the week after the Sunday broadcast — again, in contrast to Super Bowl auto ads, which generally boosted consumer consideration for as long as two weeks after the game.

“Because it’s a big audience, there were large increases consideration on the day of the broadcast,” said Dr. David Tompkins, executive director of business solutions for Edmunds.com. “But for Monday through Sunday afterward, it almost dried up. There wasn’t nearly as much of a lasting impact as with the Super Bowl ads.”

Relative consumer enthusiasm for the ads also seemed to be partly a reflection of the enthusiasm for the programming itself. The Super Bowl game was a classic matchup for the ages, with the outcome in doubt until the final minutes and the audience reaching 98 million, according to Nielsen. By contrast, this year’s Oscars telecast drew the fewest viewers in more than three decades, reaching an average of only about 32 million people, per Nielsen.

Audi Wins at Oscars
The average consideration lift for the Academy Awards ads was 70 percent compared with 97 percent for Super Bowl ads, Edmunds.com’s analysis showed. This reflects ads that ran nationwide — for Cadillac Escalade and CTS, GMC Acadia, and Saturn — as well as spots that ran only in certain markets across the country, including those for GMC Yukon Hybrid, Jaguar and Audi R8 and A5.

By far, the R8 advertisement was the biggest winner in Oscars-Sunday consideration, with a 125 percent increase in consideration on that day compared with the previous four Sundays (omitting Super Bowl Sunday), though no increase during the following week. The ad was the same Godfather-themed spot that debuted during the Super Bowl.

Aired only in New York, Los Angeles and Miami markets as local media buys, a spot for the new 2008 A5 coupe was a winner as well, pushing up consideration by 77 percent on Oscars Sunday and by 46 percent, the best figure of any vehicle measured, for the following week. The ad depicted a schoolkid in an elite academy who gets a lesson in the conformity that will be expected of him when he graduates, including the presumption that he will purchase a Mercedes-Benz, a BMW or a Lexus. Suddenly, a shiny, dark-colored A5 coupe pulls up outside the classroom and roars, and the kid begins getting other ideas.

“The A5 ad was clever,” Tompkins said. “Plus it was very memorable for the brand.”

Yukon Hybrid ads generated 112 percent higher consideration on Academy Awards Sunday but none during the subsequent week. Acadia boosted consideration 103 percent on the day of the telecast and 16 percent during the following week.

By contrast, Tompkins said, the Cadillac ads for Escalade and CTS didn’t perform well. The CTS ad featuring TV actress Kate Walsh “didn’t showcase the product,” he said. And, he noted, “CTS consideration is ramping down after a particularly strong launch that began last fall.” Launch vehicles typically see consideration taper off after the first two or three months, Tompkins said