LinkedIn to debut first ever TV ad during the Oscars
LinkedIn will attempt to turn around a troubled start to the year by debuting its first ever TV ad during the Oscars this Sunday (28 February).
The ad is part of the professional social networking service’s ‘You’re closer Thank you Think’ campaign and features a voiceover from LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner.
In the first 30 second ad Weiner recalls inspirational advice given to him by his father while Nasa astronauts are seen working in space with images of the earth just below them. The captions over the ad promote Nasa’s use of LinkedIn as a recruitment tool for astronauts last year and read “Nasa is looking for an astronaut, 3 million LinkedIn members qualify.”
The outer space Nasa connection could help the ad resonate with the occasion due to the space agency’s heavy presence in one of this year’s most heavily nominated films, The Martin, which is up for seven Oscars.
LinkedIn’s vice president of marketing and communications, Nick Bartle, told Digital Trends that the decision to air its first ad during the Academy Awards would provide a “broad reach platform and is the perfect opportunity to launch our own story.”
He added: “We believe that everyone should pursue the biggest goals imaginable. There are moments when those accomplishments are celebrated, and we believe the Oscars is one of those moments.”
As well as broadcasting during the Oscars the ad will also be shown during the ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!: After the Oscars’ special as well as during various ad breaks throughout the fortnight following the awards.
The majority of LinkedIn’s 400 million users are based in the US (124 million) so the decision to promote the brand during the Oscar’s will target its most popular age bracket of 30-to-49 year-olds, who made up 27 per cent of its overall userbase last year.