Targeting the Oscar-less Oscars market on television: female domination

Advertising during the Oscars on US television costs half as much as advertising during the Super Bowl, which is still quite expensive for the medium! What exactly have marketers learned about advertising during the event?

The first thing you need to know about advertising for the Oscars is something you may have already guessed. Almost 70 percent of the target audience is female. Steve Shannon, chief marketing officer at Hyundai America told Brandchannel that “three important aspects of Oscar advertising stand out: female domination, the luxury setting and category exclusivity.” It’s no secret that women are powerful purchasers in any economy. This is more apparent than ever when advertisers spend up to $1.8 million dollars for a thirty second spot to target this audience. Shannon feels that Hyundai’s Equus, Genesis and Azera premium cars are the perfect product to advertise during the Oscars. They represent elements of stardom and glamour which are synonymous with the actual event. Neiman Marcus, a designer wear retail company, opted to completely sponsor the American soap show Revenge, fitting ten minute long commercials that form part of the action on screen to target their female audience. Ignoring the annoyance of a ten minute commercial that consumers will probably forward past with PVR, this example highlights the lengths advertisers are going to target their female audience. Power to women! Slotting seven commercials in between the event and being the exclusive auto sponsor for the event for the past five years, Hyundai seems to have responded to growing evidence of the rise of the female consumer. According to She-Conomy.com, women account for 65% of new car purchases and 85% of all consumer purchases in the states. In the South African market, using Oscar Pistorius to promote the Oscars seemed like a good idea at the time, considering his appeal to the target audience. Unfortunately this has not panned out exactly how advertisers thought it would. Advertisers did manage to capture the “luxury” aspect of the event with premium car adverts. OUR TAKE OUT: Females rule TV and promoting cars is slowly starting to mean promoting ‘girl toys’. Re-think where the majority of your sales will come from when creating advertisements.
	Oscars, Female Audience