IMAGINE tuning in on Sunday night to watch the Academy Awards and seeing the Oscar for best picture given again to “No Country for Old Men,” “The Departed” or “Million Dollar Baby.”
That was almost what it was like to watch the commercials that appeared during the broadcast on ABC. In another sign of how drastically the recession is forcing Madison Avenue to pinch pennies, many of the spots shown were reruns.
For the last several years, marketers have used the Academy Awards as a showcase for new work, much as they do each year with the Super Bowl. But on Sunday, advertiser after advertiser rolled out retreads. Some, like McDonald’s, presented no new spots at all.
And one commercial, from MasterCard, was a re-edited version of a trio of spots the company ran during the 2004 Oscar broadcast. Too bad the Dow Jones industrial average from five years ago cannot be revived as easily.
As a result, marketers that took the effort — and spent the money — to deliver something new stood out.
What follows is an assessment of some of the Oscar commercials — originals or oldies — broadcast nationally by ABC during the show, out of the total of more than 40.
BEST ACTOR Jeff Bridges was never seen on camera during the Oscars. But his voice was heard more often than Hugh Jackman’s as he narrated eight commercials for Hyundai Motor America, the No. 1 advertiser in the show.
The earnest, plain-spoken delivery by Mr. Bridges of lines about the automaker’s new incentive plan, called Hyundai Assurance Plus, sounded like a mash-up of in “The Grapes of Wrath” and James Stewart in “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.”
“We’re all in this together,” Mr. Bridges intoned. “It’s time to repay your belief in us.” Is there an opening in the Obama cabinet for a secretary of reassurance?
Making the pitch from Mr. Bridges even more effective is a credit on his filmography: He portrayed the maverick, populist automaker Preston Tucker in the 1988 movie, “Tucker: The Man and His Dream” Agency: Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, part of the Omnicom Group.
BEST ACTRESS “I’m a PC,” says an adorable girl named Kylie Kim in a commercial for the Microsoft Corporation, “and I’m four and a half.” But she handles the PC’s functions like a pro: “I click,” she says as she edits a photo. “It’s better!”
If a new depression needs a new Shirley Temple, Hollywood ought to consider Ms. Kim: Instead of tap-dancing with Bill Robinson, she could blog with Bill Gates. Agency: Crispin Porter & Bogusky, part of MDC Partners.
BEST COSTUME DESIGN The presentation of new apparel lines for women by the J. C. Penney Company easily won the competition for outstanding outfits. In a change of pace, most of the commercials showed a young woman dressing up to please herself rather than to impress a date.
The sole caveat to the kudos for the cavalcade of clothing is that, truth be told, an untrained eye had a tough time distinguishing among the labels on display. Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi, part of the Publicis Groupe.
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT It’s a tie! A three-way tie, actually, among the three (blessedly new) commercials for the True North line of nuts sold by the Frito-Lay division of PepsiCo.
One spot featured the winner of a True North contest to discover people with uplifting personal passions; it was directed by the Oscar-winning actress Helen Hunt. The winner, a former Chicago police officer named Lisa Nigro, founded the Inspiration Café, which helps the homeless; the scenes of her and her customers were more moving than any hour of “Slumdog Millionaire.” Agency: StrawberryFrog.
BEST ECO-WARRIOR Who was greener than thou during the Oscars? Not an actor or a filmmaker but Apple, which ran a commercial for the MacBook Pro — proclaimed “the world’s greenest family of notebooks.” Agency: TBWA/Chiat/Day, part of the TBWA Worldwide division of Omnicom.
BEST FILM EDITING The aforementioned commercial for MasterCard was a deftly compressed version of three spots that were shown originally as a series during the 2004 Oscar broadcast. The story line, about a lost dog that finds its way home, may have benefited from the sped-up presentation because the ending was easy to predict. Agency: McCann Erickson Worldwide, part of the McCann Worldgroup unit of the Interpublic Group of Companies.
BEST HOMAGE TO AN INCUMBENT PRESIDENT A commercial for Orencia, a drug sold by Bristol-Myers Squibb to treat rheumatoid arthritis, carried the theme “Oh, yes I can!”
And in solidarity with the administration’s goal of stimulating the economy, the commercial included an offer for the Orencia Promise Program, which can be used to reimburse patients’ co-pay payments. Agency: MRM Worldwide, part of the McCann Worldgroup.
BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT It’s never easy being a neat freak, according to a charming commercial for a new collection of Hoover vacuums called the Hoover Platinum Collection, sold by a unit of Techtronic Industries. The story ends with the soothing promise that “eventually, your higher standards are rewarded.”
And in another nod to Barack Obama, the commercial uses the song “At Last,” heard during the inaugural balls. Agency: The Martin Agency, part of Interpublic.
BEST SOUND EDITING AND MIXING The evocative noises of a Coca-Cola bottle being opened and the soda’s effervescent fizz really helped a Coke commercial put across its message of thirst-quenching refreshment. Such aural logos are as valuable to the Coca-Cola Company as its contoured bottle.
In a nice touch for a spot shown during the Academy Awards, the commercial was filmed in a fashion reminiscent of an Alfred Hitchcock movie. Agency: Wieden & Kennedy.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR Tom Cruise’s career makeover from serious thespian (“Valkyrie”) to droll comedian (“Tropic Thunder”) received a boost from his performance in a promotional spot for the ABC late-night show “Jimmy Kimmel Live.” The punch line may have been predictable, but Mr. Cruise delivered it with panache. The spot was created internally at ABC, part of the Walt Disney Company.
