Never yesterday”™s idea of a party and never understated, the Academy Awards show next year is staying day-after-tomorrow sharp via digital, social and mobile media, calling on Media Storm in Norwalk to implement an interactive approach worthy of Tinsel Town”™s big night.
“Both on a professional and personal level I can think of no higher plane than to be associated with than the Academy Awards ”“ a global brand without parallel,” said Craig Woerz, co-founder and managing partner of Media Storm.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences chose the Norwalk group as its media buying agency of record and will start work with the upcoming 82nd Academy Awards, which will be presented on March 7 at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood and televised live by the ABC.
“Media Storm has a successful track record for developing creative media strategies for the entertainment industry,” said Janet Weiss, the Academy”™s director of marketing.
“The team looks forward to helping to drive viewership for the ABC telecast of this preeminent awards show,” said Woerz. “The Oscars is a true live event and therefore an opportunity to build on the success of years past without competing with technology like DVRs or lapsed broadband viewing.”
Tim Williams, co-founder and managing partner of Media Storm, said the company will try to build upon the momentum generated by the most recent Academy Awards which had a 13 percent ratings increase over the previous year.
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“Our challenge, which we love, is to help do even better,” said Tim Williams, co-founder and managing partner of Media Storm. “They wanted to strong innovation and thinking that really comes to life, and that”™s what our company does it brings action.”
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In October , Media Storm launched BOLT, a new division dedicated to developing and implementing campaigns for interactive television, which will be utilized for the Academy campaign.
“BOLT is an extension of Media Storm, said Williams.” “It”™s the branding of something we”™ve been doing for 3 years. We saw the need to take television from a passive standpoint to an active standpoint in terms of engagement. Where there”™s more engagement, there”™s more loyalty. BOLT takes entertainment and uses technology that allows the viewer to interact.”
Woerz said Media Storm will build a long-lead awareness campaign to get viewers thinking about the Awards early using mostly un-paid elements; leveraging media relationships, partnerships and content opportunities to extend the reach of the campaign.
“For us this is an opportunity to grow and basically tell advertisers, the technology is there, it”™s available to 35 million households,” said Woerz. “It”™s still new to a lot of advertisers and potential advertisers. The exposure of the Awards will be unparalleled. ”
