The HBO Max team partnered with our agency to help establish a unique social brand positioning that would make them an unstoppable wave in a sea of entertainment streaming competitors. Starting with the official launch of the HBO Max social channels on February 14, 2020, we dove in head first. With our goal of showcasing the breadth and depth of the HBO Max library in mind, we pushed a staggering 291 pieces of content on Instagram over the course of a 12-hour period. This all-out campaign was created to ensure awareness of the immense treasure trove of premium content coming to the platform on launch day. This resulted in a mass PR buzz, and stoked an early following and engagement across social channels. We expanded this advantage by continuing to develop high quality, “extremely online” content and cultivate a strong sense of community and fandom among the growing following.

The HBO Max team chose the creative brains at our agency to help them accomplish one estimable goal: establish their social brand positioning to stand apart from entertainment streaming competitors. We took to the task instinctively, immediately constructing a unique social brand persona and tone of voice for HBO Max that would not only distinguish it from others in the marketplace, but succeed in commanding the attention of the coveted younger, more social, and digitally native audience. We successfully captured the attention and engagement of young Millennials and Gen Z women and men through our robust social campaign. We accomplished this by building a “fan-first” strategy, connecting and engaging with this core audience through the lens of the “superfan” of all things entertainment.

To help HBO Max establish their social brand as unique and superior to the competition, we created a social media first strategy to seize the attention of a young audience. Through design elements like a beautifully curated Instagram grid featuring fan-favorite quotes from IP on eye-catching art, we were able to achieve that. We took this opportunity to get fans excited about the cult classics that had previously been unavailable and new HBO Max content. The Instagram grid launch culminated in the reveal of the first official teaser spot for HBO Max. Each row of design was created with the specific IP it was representing in mind, perfectly capturing the show or film’s tone in only 3 Instagram posts. During the making of the 291 assets, our community management team was hard at work strategizing how to execute this massive undertaking successfully. Needless to say, we nailed it.

Launch day was a blazing success, resulting not only in garnering massive PR buzz, but also fueling early following and engagement across Instagram, Facebook and Twitter for the HBO Max brand. The impressive numbers speak for themselves: 88% follower increase on Facebook, and 225% increase on Instagram, all between Feb. 13 and Feb. 16. Building from that solid vantage point, we continued to develop premium social content and cultivate a strong sense of community and fandom among the growing following. As this community grew in quantity, it also elevated in quality, becoming a go-to location for fans to gather and connect—which was exactly the kind of invaluable social engagement HBO Max was seeking for its brand.