M&Ms Sweeten Oscar Night

M&Ms is sending Red and Gold—, Yellow— the Oscars again this year.

The candy brand is sponsoring a slate of Oscar-themed promotions with Loews Theaters, Blockbuster and Ralphs supermarkets.

An instant-win game with Loews will award one grand-prize trip to the 2007 Academy Awards, and a Loews season pass (worth $1,500) to five first-prize winners. Moviegoers who buy a Red Carpet Combo at Loews’ concessions (popcorn, M&Ms and Coke soft drinks) get a scratch-off game card. The promo could distribute as many as 1.25 million game cards before its March 31 end date.

Meanwhile, Blockbuster has partnered with M&M for a month-long sweeps that will award daily winners with a year’s supply of Blockbuster rentals, M&Ms and Coca-Cola beverages. Blockbuster customers who buy a $10 Award-winning Combo (movie rental, M&Ms and two 20-oz. soft drinks) are automatically entered in the sweeps.

Separately, Ralphs shoppers who use their Ralphs Club loyalty card to buy four 11- to 14-oz. bags of M&Ms are entered in a sweeps to win tickets to a Red Carpet Experience for the 2007 Oscars. That sweeps runs Feb. 8 through 28.

Masterfoods USA handles the promos in-house; BBDO, New York City, handles TV support as well as Red’s Red Carpet Tips, which appear on M&M’s Web site again this Oscar season.

“Tips” appeared on the site last year, with spokescharacter “Red” hosting a series of tongue-in-cheek pointers, including tips on getting a healthy tan (enter Yellow with a thong tan line) and having an entourage (Yellow spills a bag of M&Ms on the carpet; they follow him when Red orders him off-camera).

“We’re getting out there early in the nomination season so people planning Oscar parties can get prepared,” said Masterfoods USA spokesperson Joan Buyce. Oscar season is “a key time for moviegoers, and M&M is integral to the movie experience.”

M&M also will give gifts to some Academy Award nominees, with personalized M&Ms printed with their names and messages such as “Congrats” and “Best of Luck.” Masterfoods also will sell Oscar Party Blend (red and yellow M&Ms) for a limited time online.

The site also will revive other features from last year, including Oscar Party Bingo (visitors can download 10 variations of free bingo cards) to play during the March 5 broadcast, and new party tips from Discovery Channel’s “The Party Planner” David Tutera, as well as a recipe for M&Ms Golden Flix Mix from celeb chef Denise Vivaldo.

“We know families are mixing M&Ms with popcorn for family movie nights,” Buyce said. “We upped it a notch for the Oscars, which have been called ‘the Super Bowl for women.'”