The strategic objectives for HBO’s Lovecraft Country Sanctum were to create a community building experience that would foster a brand new fandom for the tentpole show Lovecraft Country, and generate content and buzz as the experience unfolded alongside the series.

To achieve these goals in our then new COVID world, we needed to craft an evolving virtual experience that would enable enthusiasts to interact with the show’s world and themes in a meaningful way.

Sanctum was a three-part social VR event series, launched after key episodes or HBO’s Lovecraft Country. Experienced via Oculus Quest, in the first event, guests explored a mesmeric sculpture garden, with original artworks crafted by Black Afrofuturist artists. In the second, visitors entered an otherworldly interactive theatre that defies the laws of physics. The third event featured an unforgettable musical performance by one of today's biggest music stars, Janelle Monáe.

The events were also streamed to the general public via YouTube Live. Viewers were able to interact in real-time with the experience, solving riddles to trigger spells that directly impacted the virtual world.

Sanctum provided a way for fans to come together virtually and safely in a unique new place. The virtual events also gave the opportunity of spotlighting the work of Black artists in celebration of the series.

In order to build community and foster fandom, it was imperative for Sanctum to be a group experience where participants actively engaged with one another and shared their experiences post-event, all while having the same seamless, high quality visual and audio experience that was easily accessible to those who were less techsavvy.

To ensure the best experience for Sanctum participants, we curated a list of 100 influencer invitees per event and gifted them with Oculus Quest headsets. Attendees were then guided in VR through three worlds.

The events were simultaneously run on the social VR platform VRChat, which allowed guests to talk and interact with each other in real-time within the environment. The experience was inspired by the deeply layered and dynamic world Misha Green brought to life in Lovecraft Country, with the aim to create a digital experience for fans that is just as innovative as the series itself.

There are three timely environmental factors that are structural bones of this project – affordable mobile hardware (Oculus Quest), an established and collaborative platform (VRChat), and thirdly a global pandemic that has forced audiences indoors and elevated interest in virtual experiences. Those bones dictate the sandbox we have to play in visually – we designed with maximum optimization in mind, whilst providing the most stimulating experience possible for our guests. As such, we set out intentionally avoiding replication of the very rich visuals from the show – not wanting to draw comparisons between the big screen and mobile VR.

The digital experience made a huge online splash, garnering over 100 press features and 13 million social impressions in the first week alone.

The event was reported on by Billboard, Rolling Stone, Engadget, Event Marketer, Adweek, NME, Android Central, Nerdist MSN and more, with a combined reach of 42 million globally.

The #lovecraftsanctum hashtag received 31.4 million Twitter impressions over the course of the three-part event series.

All this led to HBO’s Lovecraft Country being the most talked about HBO tentpole series of the year.