Ellen DeGeneres’ now famous Oscar Selfie was paid for by Samsung writes Suzanne Vranica:

• As an official sponsor of the event Samsung had negotiated to have its phone integrated into the show.
• It also paid for five full minutes of commercials. All of this is estimated to have cost Samsung $24 million.
• Ellen DeGeneres had come up with the idea to take a selfie during rehearsals and Samsung employees taught her how to use the Samsung phone to take the shot.
• The stunt was effective. Samsung was being mentioned 900 times a minute soon after the photo was posted on Twitter.
• Advertizers have increasingly tried to integrate their products into shows since consumers are more likely to skip over ads.

Read more about Samsung’s previous spending on the Oscars, the hitch that Samsung had to deal with, and the proportion of the mentions of Samsung on social media that were positive over here.

Source: The Wall Street Journal