Puppets
Issue 19 | June 2011
Agency
BBDO New York
Creative Team
Chief Creative Officer: David Lubars; Executive Creative Directors: Greg Hahn, Mike Smith; Creative Directors: James Clunie, Chris Beresford-Hill; Art Directors: James Clunie, Paul Wagner; Copywriter: Chris Beresford-Hill; Digital Designer: Mike Szabo
Production Team
Head of Interactive Production: Niklas Lindstrom; Interactive Producer: Kelly McLaughlin
Other Credits
Developer: Axel Gimenez
Date
December 2010
Background
This year’s integrated HBO Christmas campaign was based on the idea of ‘Leave the HBO to us’. Rather than give your friends some home-made version of a show, give the real thing. TV commercials and online videos showed misguided gift-givers, giving loved ones really lame homemade renditions of HBO shows, showing there’s no substitute for the real thing.
At www.makeyourownhbo.com visitors could recreate famous scenes from HBO classics using virtual sock puppets.
Idea
The website allowed people to recreate scenes from either Eastbound & Down or True Blood, in a virtual sock puppet show.
Using technology that required neither markers nor laser printouts, people performed by opening and closing their fingers and reading from our virtual teleprompter.
The resulting clip could then be “gifted” to friends. With one click your movie was uploaded to Facebook or to Twitter.
Results
Thousands of epic performances were logged, proving conclusively that one thing remains true: there’s no substitute for HBO shows.
Our Thoughts
BBDO has completely reinvented itself in New York (and in London) around digital. It’s been rapid and it’s been total. A few years ago, this would have been a campaign of small-space ads reminding people ‘Show them you love them with True Blood.’ Now it’s an idea people want to be part of and share on Facebook.
I read this week somewhere (can’t remember the source, sorry) that 20% of all digital advertising budgets in the USA are now spent on Facebook apps of one sort or another. Google isn’t the only big boy in the playground. The next couple of years are going to be a fascinating struggle as the digital super-powers square up to each other.