Kohl’s Oscars Activation Links Old Acceptance Speeches To New Family Events

The theme of Kohl’s Oscars campaign is ‘gratitude’ and the TV ad approach pays homage to classic Oscars winners’ acceptance speeches: with speech narrative played over family moments that ‘celebrate the viewers success and accomplishments’.

Kohl’s month long activation, running under the ‘All the Good Stuff’ tagline, revolves around four TV ads during the broadcast focusing on the universal feeling of gratitude (both Oscars success and small, everyday family/viewer celebrations and accomplishments), plus a heavy digital line led by a second-screen viewing party, as well as live streaming the red-carpet walk before the awards telecast on Periscope.

At the centre of the Oscar’s exclusive retail partner’s activation programme is a major ad buy during the ABC ceremony telecast that featured a series of ‘Thank You’ commercials blending Hollywood glamour and everyday family life and encouraging viewers to add their own special moment using the hashtag #AllTheGoodStuff.

The in-ceremony TV spots included ‘Dad’s Thank You’ (paired with Cuba Gooding’s ‘Jerry Maguire’ acceptance speech),

‘Mom’s Thank You’ (matched to Penélope Cruz’s 2008 Oscar acceptance speech for ‘Vicky Cristina Barcelona’),

‘Girl’s Thank You’ (linked to Whoopi Goldberg’s acceptance speech for Best Actress in a Supporting Role in 1990 for Ghost),

and ‘Boy’s Thank You’ (allied with Jeff Bridges’ ‘Crazy Heart’ Oscars acceptance speech).

These four ads were accompanied by a second strand of spots for the retailer’s private label brand Sonoma:

Beyond the telecast ads, Kohl’s Oscars digital campaign revolved around Saturday Night Live‘s Vanessa Bayer and celebrity party planner Mindy Weiss hosting a branded Oscars ceremony Twitter live stream.

This activation social silo part was initially trailed with an online video and social posts.

You're invited to our LIVE Oscar® party on 2/28 hosted by @vanessabayer to celebrate #AllTheGoodStuff.https://t.co/qzO6v6loSE

— Kohl's (@Kohls) February 8, 2016

Indeed, it was the social strand was the focal point to leverage the pre-event excitement and momentum.

Kohl’s used its social channels to encourage and enable film fans to plan their own ultimate Oscars viewing party for family and friends – with viewers are encouraged to check out @Kohls on Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, for Oscar-party inspiration leading up to the event.

Kohl’s also incentivised its followers to engage with the campaign by offering those who shared personal stories of appreciation socially a chance to have their tweets read live on Oscars night by Vanessa Bayer at the Kohl’s live viewing party and/ or to appear in a montage featuring the best appreciation videos submitted by fans across the country.

While during the show itself it used Periscope live video during the show’s ad breaks and it invited people to tweet who they’re thankful for using the #AllTheGoodStuff hashtag.

Your #Oscars speeches are so good, @VanessaBayer tried to read them all. Share yours w/#AllTheGoodStuff. pic.twitter.com/0y7mueHD2o

— Kohl's (@Kohls) February 29, 2016

Unique @scratchreel execution by @Kohls for this #Oscars campaign, using it for a slot machine effect #bestpractice https://t.co/b6R8oSot0S

— SnappyTV (@SnappyTV) February 19, 2016

Kohl’s worked on the campaign with agencies Anomaly and Huge.

Comment

The commercials, which carefully address/avoid the 2016 Academy backlash around diversity by including mixed ethnicity characters, sit at the heart of a strategic objective of re-injecting some of the sheen that used to surround the former star of American mid-priced retailing.

The Oscars are a major brand moment for Kohl’s and, as one of the highest-viewed broadcast events of the year in the USA, they aim to introduce Kohl’s, on a bigger, more prominent stage, to new customers (particularly in the millennials 18 to 24-year-old segment), while also connecting with its core demographic.

Viewers certainly connected with them, with praise from Katie Couric and others:

These @Kohls ads are kind of funny no? #Oscars

— Katie Couric (@katiecouric) February 29, 2016

Those @Kohls commercials during the #Oscars were seriously better than most of what I saw during #SuperBowl50

— Jacob Long (@JacobLong_KSDK) February 29, 2016

The strategy, despite its mid market positioning, is for the brand to tie itself to celebrities and fashion-industry glamour.

In addition to the Oscar’s work, the retailer is also opening a flagship New York City showroom and design office, plus using celebrities like Jennifer Lopez and Lauren Conrad to partner with on private-label lines.

Kohl’s took on the exclusive Oscar’s broadcast retail advertiser category in January after rival JCPenney gave up the slot after 14 consecutive years.

This means it has a lot of marketing space to fill as its predecessor typically ran a huge, multi-platform activation programme that included multiple in-ceremony TV spots (see case studies for 2015, 2014 and 2013).

But, of course, this didn’t actually stop the former official partner front ambushing the 2016 event by ensuring the launch of its new marketing campaign (and slogan ‘Get Your Penney’s Worth’) coincided with the Oscars.

Interestingly, after years of problems, JCPenney is showing some signs of recovery after a lengthy decline, whilst Kohl’s hopes its Oscar’s partnership will halt its current problems that have resulted in recent store closures and cost cutting.

The Oscars is a competitive property for mid America mass retail – as illustrated by rival target hosting its own pre-Oscars party.

JCPenney, which had been using the Oscars as an advertising platform to showcase its exclusive spring collections of fashion and home furnishings, stated that it felt the time had come for it to find other means to promote its wares.

Perhaps it was also influenced by the steady rating decline: in 2015 The Oscars US telecast ratings fell 16% to 36.6 million in the 18 to 49 –year-olds group.

Links

Kohl’s Twitter:

https://twitter.com/Kohls

@Kohls

Kohl’s Website:

http://www.kohls.com/

Kohl’s Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/kohls

Kohl’s Pinterest:

https://www.pinterest.com/kohls/

Kohl’s Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/kohls/?ref=badge