Can NPH outdo Ellen’s selfie and pizzas at the Oscars this year?

The 2014 Oscars were pretty epic – Gravity won 7 awards, Matthew McConaughey won his first Oscar; while Leo didn’t (*sad face*). But the one thing that was more popular than any win last year was show host Ellen DeGeneres’ (or should we say Bradley Cooper’s) selfie that broke Twitter and the pizza party that she threw!

The day time host, who consistently generates insane amounts of engagement on social media, took the awards night to another level with her amicable style. Even more than just being a rewarding night for members of the arts and entertainment fraternity, we saw a ton of brands “winning” as well.

The Selfie (like Madonna, requiring no context and always capitalized), was taken on a Samsung Note 3, one of the many phones in the Samsung family that was sponsoring the event. Ellen took several selfies on her glossy white Samsung phone, and with five minutes of commercial airtime, it would seem that Samsung got its dollar’s worth at the Oscars, and then some.

Ellen’s tweet that Samsung retweeted was the second most engaging tweet for the brand, they also received more than 2,000 @-mentions on the day of the Oscars. Even their hashtag for the launch of Galaxy S5 gained a spike in usage after the Oscars.

Another unlikely star at the Oscars – Pizza! When Ellen DeGeneres joked that the audience of movie stars looked like they could use a slice of pizza, we giggled. As if these toned and svelte beautiful people would dream of eating pizza!

Yet when she brought out three pizzas and started handing them out, with a little help from Brad Pitt, we laughed out loud and immediately wanted pizza too! Not just any pizza but the one that Jennifer Lawrence was noisily chewing on. Thanks to some prime screen time – local L.A pizzeria – Big Mama’s and Papa’s made a loud social media splash as celebrities from Kerry Washington to Jamie Foxx’s daughter tweeted images of themselves devouring the delicious slices. 

Big Mama’s and Papa’s Twitter feed took full advantage of the tweets, retweeting the images posted by the stars, and even held a contest in a bid to increase their engagement and sales! However, that didn’t stop other brands from chiming in. 

.@TheEllenShow R U SRS? #Oscars

— DiGiorno Pizza (@DiGiornoPizza) March 3, 2014

Did someone say pizza? We got you.

— Pizza Hut (@pizzahut) March 3, 2014

.@TheEllenShow Should we send some Chobani?

— Chobani (@Chobani) March 3, 2014

For those who didn’t get pizza, we have an idea #Oscars pic.twitter.com/iijAR6T9i7

— SNICKERS® (@SNICKERS) March 3, 2014

All these tweets engaged well above industry average for the brands.

Ever since Oreo tweeted during the 2013 Superbowl power outage, real time marketing has become an essential social media strategy for brands during major pop culture events. While the Oscars themselves are a great opportunity for brands to get some shine in the digital spotlight and receive community love, leveraging smaller quirky moments that happen during the main event are huge treasure chests of engagement. Still haven’t planned your marketing strategy for the Oscars? We have a few last minute tips for you.

From Ellen To Neil Patrick Harris – Which Host Has the (Social) Most?

Can Neil Patrick Harris really give brands opportunities as cool as Ellen did? There’s only one way to find out. 

While you tune in to watch the show this Sunday, take a look at Unmetric’s Event Pulse. Event Pulse lets you see what brands are saying and reacting to, and which marketers are really leveraging the event. It’s live now in the run up to the Oscars. We think you’ll find Event Pulse is an essential addition to any marketing real-time command center.

SIGN UP FOR A DEMO