Apt. 64 W11

HBO has finally opened itself and joined the social media conversation without its traditional overly controlling ways. The end of the Sex and The City era coincided with the rapid rise of social media, as we know it today. HBO has not transition very
smoothly. Yes, they have all the social media tools including a You Tube channel that mostly broadcast promos and old content.

Take the amazing True Blood as an example.

Three seasons later, the network still keeps tight ropes on content distribution, forcing fans to wait a year for new content and the past season. It is all part of the old
model with distribution carefully supporting marketing vs. working hard all year in support of the HBO brand.

“Sookie, what’s a thirsty fan to do?” HBO’s closed model will slowly erode the relationship with its blood sucking fans. What could have become a franchise that repositions HBO may only be a multi season successful TV show. These days that does not sound as exciting anymore.

Enter (RED): Bono’s “save Africa and the world” organization has been energizing
the cause marketing game over the past years.

When HBO has felt the energy. It recently premiered (RED)’s new documentary.

(RED)’s The Lazarus Effect is documentary showcasing the progress made in managing AIDS in Africa. It allowed HBO to open up to consumers in times of uncontrolled digital conversations. It first aired on HBO, and immediately after it played for free, openly on You Tube. There, through the social media networking the documentary has become the topic of conversation for fans of (RED) and ONE.org (Bono’s mother ship).

This partnership is grounded on the cause (which I whole heartedly support), but it is also smart consumer marketing.

- (RED) has an almost 40% impact and 25% influence over the Twitter universe (according to the Twitalyzer index on 05/30/2010).

-(RED) is also generous and re-tweets its followers at a rate of 65%. So  it spreads the seed plenty. In exchange, (RED) asked its nearly 550,000 Facebook fans and the 1 million Twitter followers to spread the word about the documentary. Fans were provided with instructions/tools to do so.

- (RED) is already a strong brand, and can show muscle. It has a Lovemarks TM “love to loose” ratio of 4 to 1 (vs. HBO’s 2 to 1). That means it is feeling more love than not from consumers vis a vis HBO. 

Measuring the effect on HBO is not simple, but not impossible. In comes brand audits to establish the relationship with RED, video sharing numbers, detailed Twitelyzer analysis, etc. All this needs to be put in context, particularly when comparing a documentary with regular programming. So let the media friends jump in.

In the meantime, to say that the (RED) + HBO combo is driven only by cause marketing would be naive. It is also about a strong army of consumers that are committed to the cause of Africa as a way to fix the world at large. This is a larger and deeper thought.  It is not just the now traditional “five cents of you purchase will go to planting a tree in our backyard” program.  This is what I call “instant gratification cause marketing”. People engaged with the larger causes are bonded by a commitment. The topic is part of their every day conversation, and not just at the aisle in the supermarket. They are different and speak “loudly”. People know it.  ”Look, there’s goes Jovanina. She is really passionate about … If only  I had her passion.”  HBO is affiliating with a diversity group that has been singled out. Thus carries a torch.  

A recent report from MITSloan shows that consumer engagement goes from negative to very positive when brands affiliate with social causes (vs. commercial affinity programs).  The numbers are great indicator of the power of these consumers. 

Time for the plug: Diversity + Advocacy +Digital = Total Market. 

All that being said, the effect of Lazarus on HBO can be luminous. These are some of the reaction that this action could generate.

-HBO is good to the world

-HBO has opened it self to the real online conversation

-HBO = (RED)

-Lets support HBO Now (these days that sounds truly exciting.)

This is what the strong voice of a diversity group (world-saving, cyber militant millennials) can do – in one instance. Imagine if this approach was applied across HBO’s key properties throughout the year. It is worth considering now that you have relaxed a bit, HBO.