HBO: Voyeur
HBO wanted BBDO New York to demonstrate its unparalleled storytelling prowess beyond traditional television. The client needed to re-engage audiences, inviting them to become active participants in complex, interwoven narratives. The challenge was to create an immersive experience that showcased HBO's unique content, proving its ability to captivate viewers in innovative ways and reinforce its position as a premium entertainment brand.
Creative Idea
HBO projected interconnected stories onto a building, making viewers voyeurs to demonstrate its immersive narrative depth.
HBO created an immersive storytelling experience called "HBO Voyeur" that transformed a building facade into a living, interactive narrative about interconnected human stories. By projecting films onto a building and creating a multi-platform digital experience, HBO demonstrated its storytelling prowess beyond traditional television, inviting audiences to become voyeuristic participants in complex, interwoven narratives.
The Art of Peeking Behind the Fourth Wall
A Single Floor Redressed Four Times
To manage the complexity of a four - story building projection without the astronomical cost of a full - scale construction, the production team at RSA Films utilized a clever workaround. They built a single apartment set and redressed it four times to represent different floors. Actors followed a strict synchronized counter to ensure their movements aligned across the vertical "stack." For instance, a character exiting a room at second 42 had to "enter" the floor above at exactly second 43. In post - production, Asylum used matte paintings to add ceilings and floor joists, as the scenes were filmed without them to accommodate overhead lighting.
Scoring the Secret Lives of Strangers
The campaign’s cinematic atmosphere was anchored by an elite roster of musicians. Search Party coordinated a haunting soundscape featuring original tracks from Clint Mansell, M83, and Carlos Dengler of Interpol. This high - brow musical direction helped the project land a spot on *New York Magazine’s* Approval Matrix as "Brilliant/Highbrow." The production budget, estimated between $3.5 million and $10 million, reflected this commitment to prestige, treating a brand initiative with the same gravity as a feature film.
Digital Reach and Credit Disputes
The digital experience, crafted by Big Spaceship, saw users spend an average of 9 minutes on the site - a staggering engagement metric for 2007. While the campaign was a triumph, it sparked an industry - wide debate regarding multi - agency attribution. After the massive success at Cannes, a public dispute arose when Big Spaceship felt BBDO New York took disproportionate credit, leading to new discussions on how collaborative partnerships are recognized in the digital age.
Creative Strategy Deconstructed
Company
HBO possessed a reputation for premium, cinematic storytelling and a library of complex, character-driven narratives. They had the creative resources and brand equity to produce high-end content that transcended standard television formats.
Category
Entertainment marketing typically relied on passive trailers or 30-second spots that told viewers a show was good rather than letting them experience the quality. Promos were usually confined to the specific screen they were advertising.
Customer
Audiences were becoming increasingly digitally savvy and craved interactive, 'lean-in' experiences with narrative depth. They didn't just want to watch a story; they wanted to investigate and discover exclusive layers of a world.
Culture
A rising fascination with urban voyeurism and the 'always-on' digital culture created a desire to peek into private lives. This intersected with the early trend of transmedia storytelling where narratives lived across physical and digital touchpoints.
Company
HBO possessed a reputation for premium, cinematic storytelling and a library of complex, character-driven narratives. They had the creative resources and brand equity to produce high-end content that transcended standard television formats.
Category
Entertainment marketing typically relied on passive trailers or 30-second spots that told viewers a show was good rather than letting them experience the quality. Promos were usually confined to the specific screen they were advertising.
Strategy:
Prove narrative superiority by turning physical architecture and digital platforms into an immersive, multi-dimensional voyeuristic investigation.
Customer
Audiences were becoming increasingly digitally savvy and craved interactive, 'lean-in' experiences with narrative depth. They didn't just want to watch a story; they wanted to investigate and discover exclusive layers of a world.
Culture
A rising fascination with urban voyeurism and the 'always-on' digital culture created a desire to peek into private lives. This intersected with the early trend of transmedia storytelling where narratives lived across physical and digital touchpoints.
Strategy:
Prove narrative superiority by turning physical architecture and digital platforms into an immersive, multi-dimensional voyeuristic investigation.
Results
The campaign struck a cultural chord, with New York Magazine lauding the project as "brilliant highbrow" in their approval matrix. HBO fans expressed their passion in blogs and online forums with comments like "Very Entertaining", "absolutely hooked", "completely fascinated", and "This is so cool!". The `HBOVOYEUR.COM` website received over one million unique visitors in the first three weeks of its launch. Additionally, over half of HBO's OnDemand viewers watched HBO Voyeur within the first week of its release.
1M+
unique website visitors in 3 weeks
50%+
OnDemand viewers watched in first week
Strategy Technique
Use a Brand Superpower
HBO amplified its core strength - unparalleled storytelling - by creating an immersive, interactive narrative. The campaign showcased this superpower beyond traditional television.
Explore Technique
Creative Technique
Hijack the Medium
The campaign transformed a building facade into an interactive narrative canvas. HBO used an unconventional medium to deliver its storytelling, making the building itself the message.
Explore Technique
Craft Breakdown
This campaign's craft excels in its innovative multi-platform storytelling, seamlessly blending a real-world experiential event with a deeply interactive digital experience to immerse audiences in HBO's narrative depth.
The interactive website, built with Flash 9 technology, allowed for seamless zooming, multi-track audio integration, and extensive user exploration, making the digital experience as compelling as the live event.
The creation of detailed, miniature apartment sets for the short films, both for the physical projection and the digital platform, was crucial in establishing the 'dollhouse' voyeuristic aesthetic.
The filmmaking for the short stories, especially the 'The Watcher' narrative, effectively used specific camera angles and lighting to create a compelling, suspenseful, and intimate 'slice-of-life' view into private moments.
The physical building projection event in New York City, combined with interactive invitation cards and street teams, created a memorable and immersive live experience that generated significant buzz.
The campaign's magic lies in the synergistic combination of its live experiential event with a sophisticated interactive digital platform, each complementing and deepening the other to create a truly immersive narrative world.
