This past week kicked off with Hollywood’s biggest night, the Academy Awards. It is a night to celebrate great films and the minds behind them. Billy Crystal hosted the event with tremendous winners that included the likes of Christopher Plummer (Beginners), Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady), Octavia Spencer (The Help), and Jean Dujardin (The Artist). “The Artist” was the star of the show, taking home five Oscar’s including “Best Picture”. Although “The Artist” had an American crew and was shot in LA, it’s technically considered a French film. So needless to say, Sunday night was a big win. Not only is Dujardin the first Frenchman to win an Oscar, but this was the first time a French film had ever won anything other than a foreign film award.

The other big win of the night was that of Octavia Spencer for “Actress in a Supporting Role”.  The actress was clearly humbled, prompting an acceptance speech for her first Oscar win that was one for the books. The show was, of course, filled with glamour, laughs, and a lot of really great films.

Although it was beaten out by the Grammy’s earlier in February, the evening was a big hit for the networks, with 39.3 million viewers, up several million from 2011. The Oscars, typically in past years, has yielded the highest ratings after the Superbowl. This year the Academy Awards were fairly low-key, which execs say contributed to their semi-disappointing viewership. However, an audience of almost 40 million viewers doesn’t sound disappointing when you take into account the amount of simultaneous social media activity. Unlike the Superbowl, the commercials that ran during the Academy Awards were less cheesy and clearly directed to the film-watching viewers.

Two of the most talked about ads of the night were Hyundai commercials directed by Wes Anderson.  With the titles of “Talk to my Car” and “Modern Life”, both are phenomenal.  They have the originality and creativity that Wes is known for, while maintaining the purpose of effectively advertising Hyundai automobiles. It’s definitely a nice change from the traditional OEM commercials, containing an unseen driver cruising down the street, in either a lovely setting or navigating rough terrain. These new Hyundai ads may not be everyone’s preference, but they are well executed and have a fresh twist. If you haven’t seen Wes Anderson’s Oscar commercials check them out and let us know what you think in a comment!

Sources:
http://oscar.go.com/
http://tv.msn.com/tv/article.aspx?news=707383