The Oscars Aren’t Just for Movies Anymore—Here’s How Disney, Burger King, and Coinbase Stole the Show |
The Oscars Aren’t Just for Movies Anymore—Here’s How Disney, Burger King, and Coinbase Stole the Show
These commercials stood out in-between acceptance speeches.
BY ALI DONALDSON, STAFF REPORTER @ALICDONALDSON
Photo: Burger King, Disney, Coinbase, L’Oreal Paris
At the Oscars, it was not just directors and designers. The brands got their red carpet moments, too. Major consumer companies across entertainment, beauty, fast food, and crypto used the Academy Awards as a launch pad for new marketing campaigns.
Disney, the parent company of the night’s official broadcast partner ABC, used the Oscars to premiere its own tear jerker about one the company’s most important profit drivers: cruises. The 90-second commercial, which has racked up more than 40,000 views on YouTube in less than 24 hours, follows a Disney Cruise Line family tradition.
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A young father, saddled with his baby who cannot fall asleep, decides to take a late-night walk around the virtually empty ship to soothe him. That same stroll repeats as the baby grows into a toddler walking on his own, a young child toting his stuffed animal, and a surly teen, who decides he is not too cool to continue the tradition. Flash forward—that dad is now a bearded grandfather back on the cruise with his adult son, who is carrying his own toddler.
The full circle moment twinkles with Disney’s signature brand of magic, and if that dose of nostalgia makes you want to book one of the company’s cruises, which typically run from $1,300 to more than $8,000 per person, no worries. There’s a not so subtle message here from the minds at Disney: Ask the grandparents to pay for the trip.
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Burger King kills off the king
Another one of the night’s marquee sponsors, Burger King, used the evening to publicly apologize to its customers. “What happened?” the 90-second commercial asks in its opening frame before admitting that, “Fast food just fell off, us included.”
The fast food chain’s president Tom Curtis reveals himself as the narrator and promises to improve the “old restaurants, slow service, simple mistakes” that customers complained about, reminding viewers that he gave out his phone number for suggestions and even firing the company mascot. The strategy calls to mind Domino’s turnaround strategy from more than 15 years ago. Could it work? Perhaps. Still, the biggest burger moment of the night went to In-N-Out. Michael B. Jordan celebrated his Best Actor win with a late-night snack at the West Coast chain, where he was spotted putting his gold statue on the counter while he waited for his food.
L’Oreal blends nostalgia and anticipation
L’Oreal used the evening to kickstart the campaign for the Devil Wears Prada 2. The highly anticipated sequel, which is set to premiere in May, comes two decades after the original film, which became a cult classic. The 30-second commercial opens on the iconic shot of the elevator doors opening onto the offices of Runway, the film’s fictional magazine, which is modeled after Vogue. But instead of Anne Hathaway’s character Andy Sachs, Kendall Jenner is here for her appointment with Miranda Priestly, the ice queen editor played by Meryl Streep and said to be heavily inspired by Anna Wintour.