At the end of May 2023, the new Max streaming platform launched in the United States. The service united the two legacy brands HBO Max and Discovery+. As the new brand sought to drive consumer awareness around the launch with the “THE ONE TO WATCH” campaign, which celebrated the breadth of content available on the platform, it was essential for us to emphasize LGBTQ+ stories available on the platform. The goal of our campaign was to amplify visibility of LGBTQ+ characters and celebrate queer stories on Max on-platfrom, social, and IRL.
In order to amplify awareness and visibility of LGBTQ+ stories available on the new streaming service, Max, we anchored our campaign in the brand’s larger “THE ONE TO WATCH” tagline and unabashedly declared our Pride by calling our series “THE ONE TO WATCH TO SHOW YOUR PRIDE.”
We performed a robust audit of the platform and identified LGBTQ+ stories across the expansive catalog. In the end, we spotlighted 14 talent and 15 titles across legacy HBO Max and Discovery+ titles:
- The White Lotus
- Harley Quinn
- Bargain Block
- Sort Of
- We’re Here
- Our Flag Means Death
- Somebody Somewhere
- Trixie Motel
- The Sex Lives of College Girls
- 90 Day Fiancé
- My Lottery Dream Home
- The Flight Attendant
- Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin
- The Nate & Jeremiah Home Project
These creative banners lived across strategic paid media placements in key markets across the US:
- Display/Banner Placements on them.us
- Programmatic Out Of Home (Digital)
o Digital Bulletins, Digital Premiere Panels, Digital Transit Shelter, Metra Digital, Shopping Mall Digital Display, Digital Displays, Digital Posters, Digital Walls
o Markets: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Washington D.C.
To further foster awareness and visibility of our "The One To Watch" messaging, Max activated IRL at Night Out, Them and Pitchfork's Pride Celebration and concert that took place on Saturday, June 17 at Knockdown Center in Queens, New York. Max popped up at Night Out in an unforgettable way by transforming Knockdown Center's Wood Jamb space into the "Max Lounge," a space for attendees to engage with moments from Max programming, "The Last of Us," "Trixie Motel," and "And Just Like That..."
We drove a large-scale campaign to supplement Max’s awareness campaign around launch titled “THE ONE TO WATCH,” with a strategic extension targeted to LGBTQ+ audiences: “THE ONE TO WATCH TO SHOW YOUR PRIDE.” Through this campaign, we created various creative banners that celebrated queer stories on the platform. In the end, we served an impressive 104.6MM impressions across the various platforms we ran for the month of June – significantly.
Our Max “THE ONE TO WATCH “ IRL extension gave conusmers the opporunity to immerse themselves in our programming, showcasing the breadth of queer programming offered by the new platform
