How Hollywood And The Oscars Lost Their Branded Magic

A key driver for making America a cultural powerhouse over the years has been the popular movies from Hollywood.  Fans all over the world would flock to their local theatres to see the latest from Hollywood, especially the Oscar nominees.  It was a unique “dream factory” that spawned new heroes to cheer, rich content for TV and cable, related paraphernalia, and an endless fountain of gossip for the media.  Captivating, widely popular, memorable ENTERTAINMENT is what the Hollywood brand has promised to the masses, and delivered, at least until recent years.

As a rule, brands must adapt to changing trends and emerging customer tastes.  Hollywood has long established itself as an American institution, a brand that promises excitement, glamour, sex and mystery to a wide audience that seeks genuine entertainment.  The Oscars is the face of this gilded institution and its Best Picture award reinforces Hollywood’s brand image as the premier source of entertainment.

However the Academy has lost its way from this successful formula over the past 10 years.  Instead of awarding uplifting, mainstream movies, it has been focusing more on diversity and less seen, niche movies that are socially conscientious yet sometimes depressing.  With the Covid pandemic and so much turmoil this past year, it should be an ideal time to give the public more escapism with pick-me-up, inspiring movies, similar to the Frank Capra movies during the 1930’s depression years.

This year’s Oscar winners and nominees demonstrate this divergence from Hollywood’s dream factory.  While they are good movies, most are dark and about other people’s suffering which has limited attraction for the broad public.  One Hollywood writer described “Nomadland”, the Best Picture winner, this way:  “That was not entertainment. That was Frances McDormand having explosive diarrhea in a plastic bucket on a van”.

Where Are The Blockbuster Movie Classics?

The declining popularity of the Oscars ceremony over the past 10 years reflects this move away from richly entertaining movies to more underdog, artistic films.  They may be culturally relevant but offer limited appeal.  For example:

• In 2010, the Academy Awards TV viewership attracted 41.6 million fans, but dropped to only 9.8 million this year (granted, other unusual factors this year contributed to its decline, such as the pandemic and online streaming, but it still fell by 58% from the previous year)
• In the past 10 years, only “The King’s Speech” (2010), “Argo” (2012), “Green Book” (2018) best pictures generated impressive box office revenues and were considered uplifting.
• In contrast, other artistic niche winners included “The Artist”, “12 Years a Slave”, “Birdman”, “Moonlight” and “The Shape of Water”, but were all commercial disappointments.
• While box office revenues are not always an ideal indicator of top quality, it is still a useful barometer for public appeal. Between 1980 and 2003, nearly all the Oscar best pictures were among the top 10 grossing films of the year.  Since 2004 only 3 winners have been in the top 50.
• The Academy rightfully admitted to a white, male dominated skew in its voting and nominations a few years ago, but many feel the pendulum swung too far left to support diversity this year, with 9 of the 20 acting nominations going to people of color,

This gap between the preferences of the Academy and the American public has been widening considerably over the past 20 years.  Jonathon Kuntz, historian at the U.C.L.A School of Theater, Film and Television, confirmed that “the Academy is emphasizing the intangible qualities such as originality, technical innovation, cultural significance and artistic value, not just mass appeal.  It’s Hollywood’s way of helping itself promoting films. They want to reward new people and new ideas”.

The Hollywood brand achieved a unique connection with the public worldwide, but the legitimacy of the Oscars was severely tarnished when it started to depart from this recipe for success and focus on less popular, niche cinema.  While they are interesting movies and often send an important social message, the broad public does not consider them worthy entertainment.  It’s an important lesson for branding – think twice about modifying your core promise to reach new audience segments.