Award Season Public Relations Strategy with Daily Variety Editor Steven Gaydos

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Award season is fun when you’re young and single. Schwartzman & Associates was the PR agency of record for the Pussycat Dolls back in the day, and I had the pleasure of escorting them on many a red carpet.

But award campaigning has changed quite a bit since then; my guest Steven Gaydos explains in this exclusive interview how entertainment PR firms launch campaigns to improve their clients’ prospects of getting nominated and winning.

What hasn’t changed is the awards season is a source of advertising revenue to Variety.  

Variety executive editor/international managing director Steven Gaydos was the newspaper’s first managing editor of special issues. He was named executive editor of Variety/Daily Variety, and in that capacity, he helps oversee the work of the largest entertainment news staff in the world.

Gaydos took on the additional role of international managing director of Variety, overseeing the global business operations from the London office. Gaydos is the author of the Variety/Putnam book, The Variety Guide to Film Festivals, and is also coauthor of Movie Talk from the Frontlines (McFarland) and Cannes: 50 Years of Sun, Sex, and Celluloid (Miramax/Hyperion). 

Gaydos has been the regular feature presenter of the “Loose Talk” segment on BBC London’s Saturday Morning Breakfast Show. He is also a regularly featured guest on CNN, BBC’s Liquid News, World Service, Five Live, among others.  

Award Season Public Relations Insights

08:13 – How Oscar campaigns are changing due to the internet and its interactive nature.

09:15 – How online chatter in blogs is affecting advertising decisions and how much people inside the business pay attention to these blogs.

09:48 – How surprising the copyright infringement action taken by the Academy Awards.

10:32 – How realistic he believes the online copyright actions by the Oscars are.

11:51 – How major sites like YouTube and MySpace help show how the internet is growing as a platform for entertainment and information.

13:13 – What traditional media outlets are in major trouble due to the onset of social media?

14:17 – Whether or not he believes the new LA Times section called The Envelope infringes on Variety’s territory.

15:25 – How vital a source of revenue the advertising leading up to the Oscars is, compared to all the other areas.

16:33 – What trends has he seen in Oscar ads since social media’s onset and how is this year performing compared to the expectations?

17:31 – How big of an impact the enormous numbers of awards shows have had on advertising for the Oscars.

19:49 – Whether or not he thinks there will be any interactivity like there was with Justin Timberlake at the Grammys.

20:53 – Social media’s impact on his job and how strongly he feels about that change.

22:35 – How the rise of digital marketing has impacted the way Variety reporters cover Hollywood.

23:48 – LA Times and what the paper needs to do to save itself.

25:15 – Gaydos on whether or not the IRS crackdown on gift bags at the Golden Globes or the Oscars has genuinely affected the amount of swag celebrities are given.

26:30 – End.