Campaigning Hollywood Style

The presidential campaign may be over, but the nation's second-most-watched "campaign" – the race to take home that golden statuette affectionately known as Oscar – still has nearly three weeks to go. Feb. 17 is the deadline for the nearly 6,000 members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) to cast their final votes for the Feb. 22 ceremony.

The stakes may be decidedly lower – these are, after all, movie awards, not portentous decisions about cabinet postings – but the results are every bit as close to many a fan's heart in the show's global audience. And while the average Oscar-night viewer might not realize it, those awards are as fought over, campaigned for, and strategized about as any presidential race. Some campaigns, such as the bid for a Best Picture Oscar for "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," are estimated to have budgets over $10 million.

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"I was a professional marketer before I realized this was going on," says Marian Salzman, a New York City chief marketing officer with public relations agency Porter Novelli. "When I learned about it from friends in the film industry I have to admit I was surprised at just how extensive it is."

Film critic and historian Leonard Maltin adds, "Most people outside of Los Angeles or possibly New York have very little idea this is going on."

Oscar campaigns – which differ from overall movie marketing in that they target the Academy voters with everything from swanky fetes; special screenings, complete with Q-and-A sessions with a film's stars; trade publication ads that read "For your consideration;" and personal DVD mailings – are relatively new in the ceremony's 80-year history. Despite the fact that the Oscar telecast began as a marketing tool for the young broadcast medium back in 1953, the academy has actively discouraged any public jostling for the prizes. The facade of discretion was dropped, though, with the arrival of movie mogul Harvey Weinstein with his multimillion-dollar academy membership blitz that industry conventional wisdom credits with snagging a 1998 Best Picture win for Miramax's "Shakespeare in Love."