True Blood Live Feed
Issue 17 | December 2010
Agency
BBDO New York
Creative Team
Chief Creative Officer: David Lubars; Executive Creative Directors: Greg Hahn/Mike Smith; Creative Director/Art Director: James Clunie; Creative Director/Copywriter: Pierre Lipton; Icon Designer: Sheila Cannon; Interface Designers: David Diliberto/Paul Wagner
Production Team
Production Company: The Ebeling Group; Executive Producers: Dex Deboree/Mick Ebeling; Senior Producer: Sue Lee; Production Company/Animation Company/Effects Company: Studio AKA; Director: Philip Hunt; Producer: Sharon Titmarsh; Director of Photography: Oli Harrison; Post Production: James Gallard/Cristabal Infante/Fabrice Altman
Other Credits
Feature and Application Development: Social Bomb; Chief Executive Officer: Scott Varland; Chief Creative Officer: Adam Simon; Chief Technology Officer: Mike Dory
Date
22/5/2010
Background
Following an immensely successful second season of True Blood on TV, the task was to develop a campaign that would promote the box-set DVDs of the show.
HBO wanted to capitalise on existing fan fervour and create energy interest in the forthcoming Series 3.
Idea
Since Season 2 of HBO’s True Blood had been all about transformation, the idea was to allow viewers of the Blu-ray box set to watch their Facebook and Twitter accounts transform as they watched the episodes.
Using BD-Live, people could link their Blu-ray players to their social media accounts and choose a transformation experience based on one of three character sets from the show: Vampires, members of the Fellowship of the Sun or Worshippers of Dionysus.
As they watched episodes, their Facebook pictures would be transformed. For instance, they might become palewr and paler and their mouths more and more bloody-looking.
Updates got posted automatically depending on the viewer’s particular viewing habits.
For instance, if they watched a lot of one particular character’s sexy scenes, they might become his/her stalker. They could even unlock virtual gifts to share with their friends.
In addition, users could also post scenes directly to their walls with a click of their remotes and could follow all their progress on a unique Facebook application.
Results
The campaign was very well received. Forty percent of people who paired up their Blu-ray were active every night, generating 9,000 scenes shared to Facebook feeds. Roughly one-third of all the virtual gifts that were unlocked were given to non-users, thus helping to spread the word. AND True Blood Season 2 was the number-one TV title released on Blu-ray and DVD in 2010.
Our Thoughts
I think I’m right in saying this was the first ever idea to use the BD-Live feature you get with Blu-Ray players, which turns passive viewing into a more involving sort of experience. Kevin Slavin of Area/Code in New York was talking about this a couple of years ago (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaJo9xbm9FE) and I guess the folks at BBDO were listening. For me, this is the future of TV, with the viewer as participant or even as member of the cast.
This specific idea is still very niche in that it only works if you buy the Blu-ray boxed set and use the BD-Live feature but the philosophy behind it, that television is fast becoming both communal and interactive, is not.
If we gave ratings, this would be five stars.