Academy and ABC hope to draw viewers by playing hard to get

Unless you're marketing the next M. Night Shyamalan movie—and woe to you if you are—keeping the viewer in suspense isn't such a good thing. Right?
  The producers of the 81st Annual Academy Awards are doing just that, keeping all details of the Feb. 22 show close to the vest and refusing to reveal the A-list stars who'll be presenting trophies. So, how's that working out for the marketing folks over at ABC?
  "It obviously makes our job more difficult," says Michael Benson, co-evp of marketing at ABC Entertainment. "The inclination as a marketer is to tell people exactly what they're going to get. But we think this will be more intriguing and rewarding for the audience."
  The network and the Academy have launched their first joint ad campaign, themed "The biggest movie event of the year," which will run across print, radio, TV, in-theater and digital platforms. They got two-time Oscar nominee John Singleton to shoot the teaser ad (shown here), and hired an outside agency (Omelet L.A.) for the first time.
  It's all aimed at pumping the ratings of a show that sank to an all-time low of 32 million viewers last year. Can host Hugh Jackman, a bunch of indie movies and thriller-style ads get people to watch? Stay tuned.

—Posted by T.L. Stanley