HBO
Always-On Social Studio
(2017 - 2020)
Agency: ENGINE (fka Deep Focus)
Creative Partner: Ashley Tyra
Production Lead: Caroline Garrett
PM Lead: Christine DiStasio
We defined the social voice of a legendary brand.
We made millions of new (organic) friends.
We won the Webby for Best Overall Social Presence.
Starting in 2017, HBO social transformed from a promotional space into a topically-relevant, editorially-driven, conversation-starting, always-trending brand with a personality as big as its shows. A brand with a defined voice, a distinct point of view and a national holiday for Laura Dern.
I led development of a social strategy playbook and newsroom-style content studio to iterate daily and long-term editorial strategies for the @HBO channels. As consultant to cross-functional executive leadership teams within HBO and team lead for the agency, I supervised a group of ten across content strategy, multi-media production, project management and analytics disciplines in partnership with my creative lead.
The collaboration was an overwhelming success, succeeding across primary objectives (including 2MM+ organic follower acquisitions in the first year and a 35% growth in social engagements across channels) with creative work receiving global recognition including at Cannes Lions, the Clio Awards, the Webby Awards, D&AD and The One Show.
Twitter is a lot like Westworld — it can be an entertaining place full of surprises or an inescapable hell hole that sucks you in and never lets you go.
We decided to try to be the former. It worked out for us.
SOPRANOS NICKNAMES
To celebrate the 20th anniversary of The Sopranos, we sent out a single tweet offering Soprano-worthy mob nicknames for whoever wanted one. Over 24,000 people replied, including Roger Federer, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Emily Nussbaum, Blake Griffin, Macaulay Culkin and a big chunk of brands on Twitter.
We wrote, designed, and posted over 100 nicknames in real-time, creating one of the great Twitter threads of the year.
To quote the nice people at Fast Company: “Look, Brand Twitter rightfully gets a lot of flack. It tries too hard. It’s too gimmicky. It’s manufactured human interaction. But this? THIS. This was goooood.”
Click the tweet to scroll at your leisure or check out some of the responses below.
#DERNDAY
Do you ever sit around thinking about how Laura Dern deserves her own holiday? Same. So we invented #DernDay: a social holiday that apparently everyone wanted.
Instagram is a great place to show off what you got. And when you got the best talent in the game, it’s not hard. We used the platform to become super fans of talent... and sometimes legal let us make memes.
INSTAGRAM STORIES
Instagram Stories can be a wasteland of quotidian garbage... or it can be a useful tool. Need help deciding what to watch? Need a game to play to pass some time? Need a little background on a major historical event that served as the basis for a groundbreaking miniseries? We got you.
Awards & Recognition
Cannes Lions 2019
Shortlist - Social & Influencer Lions - Co-Creation & User Generated Content - Sopranos Nicknames
Shortlist - Social & Influencer Lions - Breakthrough on a Budget - Sopranos Nicknames
Shortlist - Mobile Lions - Content for User Engagement - Sopranos Nicknames
Shortlist - Direct Lions - Use of Social Platforms - Sopranos Nicknames
Clio Awards 2019
Silver - Social Media - Single Platform - Sopranos Nicknames
Bronze - Digital/Mobile & Social Media Technique - Sopranos Nicknames
Clios Entertainment 2018
Gold - Television/Streaming: Social Good - Night of Too Many Stars
Clios Entertainment 2019
Gold - Television/ Streaming: Digital/Mobile & Social Media Technique/ Copywriting - Sopranos Nicknames
Bronze - Television/ Streaming: Innovation - Sopranos Nicknames
Bronze - Television/Streaming: Social Media - Sopranos Nicknames
Shortlist - Television/Streaming: Social Media - Single Post - Sopranos Nicknames
Clios Entertainment 2021
Bronze - Television/Streaming: Public Relations - Social Good - Vote Because Campaign
D&AD Awards 2019
Shortlist - Digital Marketing - Use of Social Media - Sopranos Nicknames
The Drum Social Buzz Awards
Winner - Best Use of Twitter - Sopranos Nicknames
Winner - Best Viral - Sopranos Nicknames
OMMA Awards 2019
Winner - Best Viral Campaign - Sopranos Nicknames
OMMA Awards 2020
Winner - Excellence in Digital Marketing (Entertainment) - Recommended by Humans
The One Show 2019
Bronze - Social Media - Craft/Writing - Sopranos Nicknames
The One Show 2020
Merit - Direct Marketing | DI_08: Websites & Mobile - HBO - Recommended by Humans
The Shorty Awards 2020
Bronze - Real Time Response - Sopranos Nicknames
Finalist - Best Online Community - Sopranos Nicknames
ThinkLA IDEA Awards 2020
Winner - Best Entertainment Campaign - HBO - Recommended by Humans
The Webby Awards 2018
Honoree - Website, Corporate Social Responsibility - Night of Too Many Stars
The Webby Awards 2019
Nominee - Best Overall Social Presence - Media/Entertainment - HBO Brand Social
Nominee - Television & Film - The Sopranos
Nominee - Real-Time Response - The Sopranos
The Webby Awards 2020
Winner - Best Overall Social Presence - Media/Entertainment - HBO Brand Social
Honoree - PR-Best Social Community Building and Engagement for Advertising, Media & PR - Recommended by Humans