I’d Like to Thank My Sunglasses . . .

At Monday’s Academy Awards ceremony, there won’t be any Oscars handed out for best supporting sport-utility vehicle or best use of eye wear to boost a film’s marketing budget. But maybe there should be.

Why? Because hype related to tie-ins can be a huge help in getting people to see a movie, boosting the impact of the studio’s own advertising.

“Grosses, grosses, grosses--it’s all about the box-office gross,” said Karen Sortito, senior vice president of promotions for MGM. Sortito credits the $100 million in added worldwide media exposure from companies including BMW, Visa, Ericsson and Smirnoff for the box-office success of “Tomorrow Never Dies.”

Sortito has headed the high-profile promotional efforts for the last two Bond pictures, “GoldenEye” and “Tomorrow Never Dies.” While those films were hugely successful for BMW, few deals scale such lofty heights. Anyone remember last year’s Volvo promotion with “The Saint”? Umm, anyone remember “The Saint”?

Here are our nominees for those tie-ins that transcended the ordinary, becoming--in the popular marketing catch phrase--a win-win for all.

Best Made-in-the-Shade Tie-In: Ray-Ban in “Men in Black.” Getting a star to use your product throughout a hit film is the Holy Grail for any marketer. What Tom Cruise did for Wayfarers, Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones did for Ray-Ban’s Predator model. Sales of the $100 sunglasses tripled last summer. “Men” became the year’s top-grossing film.

The promotion almost didn’t happen. Sony underwent a major changing of the guard during the making of the film. Mark Workman, the new Sony Pictures Entertainment promotions chief, scrambled to put together the program with Ray-Ban. It paid off.

Biggest Out-of-This-World Promotion: PepsiCo and “Star Wars.” Pepsi chief Roger Enrico reportedly went before employees escorted by white-suited Storm Troopers to announce Pepsi’s deal with Lucasfilm in 1996. The force had better be with him: Pepsi claims the value of its support will exceed $2 billion through at least 1999, when the first “Star Wars” prequel is due. Per Lucasfilm’s mandate for tasteful commercialism, Pepsi kept its promotions (in-store displays and commercials) to a dull roar last year. “Star Wars” enjoyed unprecedented success in re-release, 20 years after its debut.

Best Introduction of a Dinosaur-Fleeing Vehicle: The Mercedes ML320 in “Lost World: Jurassic Park.” The German luxury car maker saw the sure-fire “Jurassic” as a way to spread the word that its new sport-utility--its first-ever in the U.S.--meant business. “We wanted to build some credibility that Mercedes could produce a true off-roader. The rough, tough settings in the movie gave us some of that,” said Alex Geller, an executive vice president with Mercedes agency Lowe & Partners in New York.

Geller concedes that many moviegoers can’t afford the $34,000 ML320. “We want to build aspiration,” he said. “Maybe somebody who sees it now can buy it down the road.”

Best Use of Ads to Flatter Studio Executives: Tanqueray for “Volcano.” A handful of 20th Century Fox promotional executives got their 15 minutes of fame when the gin maker used their cut-out heads in print ads and billboards that also showed “Mr. Jenkins” smothered with lava. “Never in my life did I imagine I’d make my modeling debut in a gin ad . . . but it was pretty cool,” said Steve Ross, executive vice president of worldwide promotions and product placement for Fox.

As for Tanqueray, the tie-in didn’t immediately boost sales, but it helped break down barriers. “A lot of studios have had unwritten policies against working with alcoholic beverage companies,” said Larry Greifer, vice president of entertainment marketing for Tanqueray importer Schieffelin & Somerset.

Greatest Bonds Between Movie and Products: “Tomorrow Never Dies.” Gripe if you will about the plethora of name-brand luxury goods featured in the film. Moviegoers didn’t seem to mind that Bond’s bike and car were both made by BMW, his cell phone was an Ericsson and his vodka was Smirnoff. And promotional partners were giddy at being able to link their high-priced goodies to Pierce Brosnan’s star power. While their tie-ins may not have produced a direct bump in sales, products like Omega watches undoubtedly made it onto the radar screen of some well-heeled buyers.

Best Goof on Product Placement: “Austin Powers.” Retro swinger Powers chugs Tab, the classic diet soda in the tacky pink can. The evil bad guy blasts off in a rocket fashioned like a giant Frisch’s Big Boy. One of the evil guy’s henchmen--an Irishman with a thick brogue--intones, “They’re always after me Lucky Charms.” “Powers” perfectly spoofs the Bond pictures by laying on product references so obvious, even the makers of the real Bond movies would blush. In the immortal words of Powers: “Yeah, baby!”