Ellen's Oscar Selfie and Samsung's Marketing Coup

Sunday's Oscars were not just another awards ceremony for Korean conglomerate Samsung. Not only did it pay $18 million for five minutes worth of ads, it got an enormous bonus from product placement when Oscars host Ellen DeGeneres gathered Jennifer Lawrence, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie and Meryl Streep for a selfie snapped by Bradley Cooper using a Samsung smartphone. How extemporaneous was it? We ask Philip Elmer-DeWitt, senior editor at Fortune magazine, and editor of its blog, Apple.20.