Marketers aim for Oscar gold with ads

• At least four Oscars advertisers were on the Super Bowl%2C too
• The Academy Awards attracts less than half the viewership of the Super Bowl
• ABC%27s 30-second Oscars slots sold for about %241.7 million this year

Q: If the Oscars are about class and the Super Bowl is about mass — why are a handful of advertisers showing up at both mega-events?

A: Both shows have massive, live audiences — which makes them mostly TiVo-proof, guaranteeing oodles of viewers will watch the commercials.

So says Jon Swallen, chief research officer at media research firm Kantar Media. When the Oscars air on ABC Sunday night, it's no accident that Coca-Cola, Hyundai, Anheuser-Busch and Samsung — which all advertised on the Super Bowl — will make a repeat performance at the 85th Academy Awards.

"These are the two top-rated programs on TV," says Swallen, with the Super Bowl attracting 108 million viewers and the Oscars expected to lure about 40 million. "They each bring not only a large audience, but one very interested in what you put on the screen."

In an age of declining TV viewership, social-media saturation and elusive eyeballs, some major marketers remain convinced that they cannot miss out on major broadcast spectacles like the Super Bowl and the Oscars. Oscar ads fetched a record $1.71 million per 30-second slot this year, while Super Bowl ads hauled in about $3.8 million.

"Having the Super Bowl and Oscars advertising back-to-back gives us a one-two punch," says Steve Shannon, vice president of marketing at Hyundai, which is the event's exclusive automotive sponsor for the fifth consecutive year. "It really allows us to stay in the forefront of consumers' minds."

Hyundai will air seven 30-second spots during the show. Its aim: target families with its new Santa Fe.

Others will cozy up with the Oscars to:

• Be cool. Samsung Mobile, ever eager to out-cool Apple, will air a series of six spots during the broadcast in episodic form, about a start-up company that uses the brand's Galaxy products to launch a game dubbed Unicorn Apocalypse. The final ad, which is 90 seconds, stars off-beat movie director Tim Burton.

• Create buzz. Diet Coke will air two spots during the broadcast, one that launched during last year's show — set to the tune Hooray for Hollywood, and a second that's been a hit in Europe, about five female friends in a park who share a Diet Coke with a hunky gardener. The Oscars, says Andy McMillin, vice president of Coca-Cola Trademark Brands, is "a great way to create some buzz."

• Rub shoulders. Stella Artois, the premium Belgian beer owned by Anheuser-Busch, will premiere a TV spot about a glassmaker who handcrafts the Stella Artois signature chalice. "Stella Artois has long been an admirer of the craftsmanship of exceptional filmmakers," says Rick Oleshak, brand director.