It's been said that the Academy Awards are the "Super Bowl for Women," at least when it comes to marketing. I don't necessarily see it that way, given what we all tweeted about at my Twitter party last night at #OscarExp.
Sure, there was #IWantThatHair from Pantene, the "statement necklace" on the red carpet, and the Wrap Dress from DVF and American Hustle. Sure that stuff has hitting the women, and some of us men too.
But to my eye, the winners crossed gender boundaries, across the board.
First we had the color blue. The guys were wearing blue tuxes like there's no tomorrow, and then in walks Ellen in a blue tux to open the show. The only other tux color to compete was white, and sure enough Ellen changed into a white tux half way into the show. Stealing the show, and the award for Best Supporting Actress, was Lupita with her version of a #NairobiBlue dress. Fabulous beyond belief.
Next was Mom. Never has Mom been more in fashion, with celeb after celeb taking their Mom as their date. Of course no one did it better than award winner Jared Leto who honored his Mom with his win without a dry eye in the house. He deserved the win and so did his Mom.
But the moment of the night came when Ellen shot the "selfie of the century"(my words) in an attempt to get the most retweeted photo ever into the Guinness Book of World Records. She certainly succeeded, and created a pop culture moment at the same time.
As far as the brands, shout outs go to:
- American Express every day credit card for best use of a celebrity with Tina Fey.
- "My first job" from McDonald's, forcing us to remember what it was like.
- Best use of Academy Award famous film clips to introduce a new product from Pepsi Mini.
- Best insights goes to Cadillac for finally showing us why we don't take vacations.
- With a special call out to the American entrepreneur via the American garage from Cadillac as well.
Finally, I have to give a high five to Pink. "Over the Rainbow" has been sung a million times by a million people, and she was still able to give us all a wow.
It was one of the best Academy Awards in my memory.