Confession number one is that last night was the first time that I had ever bothered to watch an Oscars ceremony, and I rather enjoyed it. I especially enjoyed the couture commentary from my fashion maven wife. Confession number two is that we have not owned a television for more than a decade, so I found myself riveted to the advertisements as well as the show.

It is a little early to comment on effectiveness of the TV spots, which must await a few months, at least, of consumer impact and business results. Clearly, even with typical media buy costs being slashed, several companies felt the buy not to be a good return on investment or an appropriate media placement. However, in this post I can offer up just a few subjective thoughts on the day after.

I really enjoyed the TrueNorth TV spot stories, especially the one about The Inspiration Café serving food, support and advice to Chicago’s homeless. Unfortunately, I found the transition from those amazing stories to an image of snack food to be disconcerting. I assume the intention was to create some indelible connection between those illustrations of charitable community selflessness and the brand for a bag of nuts. However, the message as presented seemed discordant to me rather than harmonious. (more…)