Celebrities aren’t the only ones flocking to the 97th Academy Awards this weekend.
Brands like Rolex, Prudential, and T-Mobile are set to appear in Sunday’s Oscars on ABC as Disney brings more sponsors onto the red carpet and into the broadcast.
This year, Disney has seen a 50% YoY increase in brands looking to activate through custom placements, sponsorships, or both, John Campbell, Disney’s SVP of streaming, entertainment, and multicultural solutions, told Marketing Brew amid a broader clamoring from brands to integrate with live programming.
“There’s really three things that CMOs are asking from us consistently: one, a return to content, two, help us maximize the moment, and three, bring me more and more live moments,” Campbell said. “How do they get closer to our IP, our talent, [and] our brands? How do we make that feel accessible for them? How [do we] bring that full enterprise versus a campaign approach versus a one-off? You’re going to see a lot of that this weekend.”
Beyond brand interest, Disney is putting plenty of marketing might behind the broadcast and will stream it live on Hulu for the first time ever to encourage viewership and younger and more multicultural audiences to tune in.
Showtime!
This year, brands are able to start showing up before the show even starts, with the option of sponsoring “tagged tune-ins” on ESPN promoting the Oscars and nominated films, Campbell said. (Some of those films were also put into collections on Disney+ and Hulu to drum up further interest.) On the night of, the Oscars will have three main brand partners, or “proud sponsors,” according to Campbell, with Rolex returning for the eighth time in the telecast with an in-show placement, along with Prudential and T-Mobile.
Ads set to appear in the linear broadcast will be “passed through from the linear feed to the streaming feed” during the show, Campbell said, and as of Wednesday, Disney was almost sold out of ad inventory for the telecast. Advertisers set to appear include pharma company Eli Lilly, beauty brand L’Oréal, and shoe company Skechers.
“We take this ‘Oscars everywhere’ approach or our ‘content everywhere’ approach, and we maximize these moments in full to really help brands surround themselves with the show across every Disney touchpoint,” Campbell said.
Brands aren’t just partnering with Disney to show up around the Oscars. On Wednesday night, Levi’s is hosting a celebration for the Oscar-nominated film A Complete Unknown with the film’s costume designer. Saint Laurent and Vanity Fair are throwing a bash for entertainment industry folks on Friday, and on Saturday, Charles Finch and Chanel are putting on a pre-Oscars dinner and party.
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A Sunday night viewing party, presented by the Academy and hosted at Los Angeles’s Academy Museum, will be supported by Sony Honda Mobility’s electric vehicle brand Afeela. An Oscars Governors Ball celebration following the broadcast, meanwhile, will feature several alcohol sponsors, including Don Julio tequila and Clarendelle and Domaine Clarence Dillon, which will provide the red and white wines poured at the celebration. This year, the ball will also feature an exclusive champagne sponsor, Champagne Lallier, for the first time.
The more, the merrier
Disney has been promoting the Academy Awards since the start of the year. Oscars promo kicked off with Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve, and the night has also been promoted on social and out-of-home, according to the network, with promos highlighting its availability on Hulu and ABC. To further promote the night, Disney also executed takeovers on various publisher platforms.
Oscars viewership has declined in recent years, but has seen a slight upswing since 2022, and in an effort to expand viewership beyond linear on ABC, Disney isn’t just streaming nominated films but is making the actual awards show available on streaming. Not only will the program be aired on Hulu for the first time, it will also stream on Disney+ internationally, Campbell said; the Disney+ stream in France will be sponsored by Christian Dior Parfum, marking the first international sponsorship of the awards show.
“More and more of our live entertainment specials will be streamed across our streaming platforms,” he said.
To further boost visibility, Disney tapped Publicis-owned influencer marketing platform Influential to work with influencers who will show up on the red carpet before the show, according to Campbell. Amelia Dimoldenberg, host of YouTube series Chicken Shop Date, will be on the red carpet interviewing celebrities. Disney is further boosting coverage on socials, including on TikTok, through its Pulse Premiere ad product, Campbell said.
After awards night wraps, Disney will conclude its “Oscars everywhere” approach on Monday with wrap-up segments on ABC’s Live with Kelly and Mark and Good Morning America. Films up for awards could stand to get even more engagement across Disney’s streaming platforms even after Sunday night, Campbell said.