HBO’s latest campaign is a riff off its famous static opener, getting an impressive range of stars (including Game of Thrones) into the bag. Via AdAge:
According to Chris Spadaccini, exec VP-consumer marketing at HBO, the decision to debut the campaign now was not sparked by increasing fray of original content from streaming services like Amazon and Netflix. Rather, the effort bows just as HBO is gaining more momentum from its hit “Big Little Lies,” and ahead of what promises to be a robust spring and summer season. Its aim is to honor its own subscribers but also to catch the eye of newcomers.
“We challenged the agency to find a way to tap into our subscribers’ emotional connection to our brand, but in a fun, unexpected way using our family of talent,” he said. “How can we tap into that feeling of anticipation and excitement our viewer has before entering our world — that feeling that is best captured by the iconic static that opens our programming? Mekanism came up with a cool idea of how we could bring that static to life.”
“We thought of this literally and figuratively as a harmony of all those characters — that’s what the chord represents,” said Mekanism Creative Director David Horowitz. “It’s the voice of the channel. The reason you anticipate something great is that collective identity. You’re so used to seeing that [opener] before a great moment that when you see it before a new show, you’re already expecting something of a certain caliber.”