And the Oscar for best commercial goes to...

The controversy surrounding this year’s Academy Awards was a drama on par with any of the nominated films. We had the selection, and then deselection, of a homophobic host. The Best Director nominees were all guys…again. And in a bid to shorten the show, the organizers nearly relegated key award categories to the commercial breaks.

But at least one thing wasn’t controversial.

At a time when many of us use VCRs to skip through commercials or watch advertising-free subscription services like Netflix, Amazon Prime and HBO, the Academy Awards broadcast appeals to marketers looking for a large, enraptured audience of people willing to stay up past their bedtimes.

Big brands with big budgets paid ABC roughly $2.2 million for a 30-second slot during this year’s ceremony. That may sound cheap compared to the $5.2 million CBS charged for 30-seconds during Super Bowl LIII. But the Oscars attract less than a third of the viewership.

So, eyeball for eyeball, the glitzy, glamorous star-studded line-up of beautiful, well-dressed movie stars is the most expensive advertising ticket around.

This year’s commercials were especially good. They offered all marketers lessons in advertising best practices, even those of us who don’t have millions to spend on a single ad. The best ads played well to the spirit of the evening, told great stories about real, authentic people, and evoked a sense of both aspiration and inspiration.

Without further ado, here are my Oscars for the best commercials of the 2019 Academy Awards:

The Oscar for Most Inspiring went to Nike. Its “Dream Crazier” spot was narrated by tennis-great Serena Williams, who was also an Academy Award presenter. Williams’ voiceover challenged the double standards facing girls and women in sports and was laid over action clips of both famous and unknown female athletes and coaches. Williams closed out the powerful ad with the words, “They want to call you crazy? Fine. Show them what crazy can do.”

The Oscar for Most Amusing went to Google. Their ad team cleverly blended promotion of its personal assistant technology with spoofs of scenes from well-known movies: “2001: Space Odyssey,” “The Hangover,” “Lady Bird,” “Scream,” “Jerry Maguire” and “Deadpool.” In each vignette, the ad edited the movie’s plot so a Google device came to the rescue. The ad ends with the tagline: “Make Google do it.”

Deciding among the nominees for Best Overall was tough.

Walmart ran a series of ads starring behind-the-scenes movie set personnel dressed in designer clothes from Walmart. The spots put Walmart customers on a pedestal, elevating them nearly to the glitz and glamour of the evening’s actors and actresses. The tagline was “We style the stars behind the scenes, in Walmart fashion.” Bravissimo.

But my Oscar for Best Overall commercial goes to Verizon. The company aired a series of ads with real customers telling authentic stories about connecting with loved ones over the cellular network.

One spot starred a mother who video chatted with her husband deployed overseas during the birth of their son. In another ad, a woman spoke in English and Spanish as she told the story of how she uses her phone to stay in touch with her aging parents in Mexico. Another ad starred a husband and wife. He’s an emergency responder and they use their phones to stay connected when he’s away at a crisis.

Instead of network utility, competition-beating features and price, the Verizon ads conveyed great stories told by authentic characters in a way that resonated with the audience.

And it’s authentic stories, after all, that get people to watch the Academy Awards in the first place.

This story was originally published February 28, 2019 at 6:00 AM with the headline "And the Oscar for best commercial goes to...."