DDB Mudra's new ads highlight HBO Premium's ad-free HD service

DDB Mudra West has released a new campaign for HBO South Asia. The campaign aims to promote HBO’s belief that nothing should come in the way of entertainment, and has been launched with the aim of making sure that audiences have an uninterrupted ad-free viewing experience. DDB Mudra has conceptualized this campaign, and further created two fictitious accessories ‘HBO Superclone’ and ‘HBO Agriculture’ to aid uninterrupted HBO Prime watching.

Announcing the launch of the TV-led campaign,Monica Tata, managing director, South Asia for HBO India, “Both the HBO Premium channels maximize the entertainment experience by airing HBO Original content and blockbuster movies 100% break-free. We have initiated a multimedia campaign developed by DDB Mudra to promote the visibility and popularity of this unique proposition of HBO Defined and HBO Hits across platforms including print, cinema, TV, digital and social media. Our aim is to spoil our viewers with the very best non-stop, high qualityprogramming, thus providing an unparalleled viewing experience.”

The campaign comprises two TVCs - HBO Superclone and HBO Agriculture.

‘Superclone’ opens to a girl completely absorbed by the TV. The camera pans sideways to a man standing in the room, looking at the camera. The man tells the viewers that HBO Premium channels brings viewers HD content with no ad breaks so that life doesn’t get in the way of TV watching. The man unveils a box containing an HBO Superclone of the girl who is absorbed by HBO Premium. She nods at the clone, who then picks up the phone and talks to the girl’s mother - fielding questions about weight, junk food and marriage. The clone hangs up and winks at her original self. Cut to the mother on the other side of the phone - turns out she herself is a clone of the original mum!

Watch the ad here:

‘HBO Agriculture’ begins with a couple sitting up in bed watching TV, when the same man is standing beside their explaining HBO Premium to the viewer. To make sure that the couple doesn’t have to even get up for food while watching TV, the man unveils ‘HBO Agriculture’, a variety of plants and trees where you can just pluck food off of them and eat it, like a popcorn plant or a small tree with barbequed burgers. The man then directs viewers to the website www.hbopremium.com .

Watch the ad here:

Speaking about the creative strategy behind the campaign,Rahul Mathew, creative head, DDB Mudra West, said, “It’s not often that a channel can truly boast of a viewing experience and not merely bleat about its content. And we wanted to make sure that the communication reflects the richness and the uniqueness of the channel. HBO premium accessories as an idea does that and allows for many interesting executions in different media.”

Added Anurag Tandon, senior VP, DDB Mudra West,said, “Content promotion on a channel has a very formulaic approach. The usual strategy is to build intrigue through teaser like edits by using existing footage of the content that needs to be promoted. We wanted to break away from this traditional approach and leverage the USP of uninterrupted original HD quality content in a way that goes beyond just claims and announcements of the product offering. Thus came about our creative proposition of ‘addictive viewing experience’ dramatised through two TV spots showing the consumers going through the experience. We believe it is imperative for a content brand to build the ideology of viewing experience in addition to the promise of fresh content for the consumers to feel compelled to subscribe.”

The TVCswill run on the HBOpremium.com webpage and will include visitor engagement and interaction through gamification of elements from the TVCs.

Credits

Agency: DDB Mudra West

Chief creative officer: Sonal Dabral

Office head, DDB Mudra West: Rajiv Sabnis

Creative head DDB Mudra West: Rahul Mathew

Business head: Anurag Tandon

Executive creative directors: Aman Mannan, Ashish Phatak

Account management Team: Giridhar Bhat, Shivavrata Sarkar

Creative team: Godwin Dmello, Ninad Gharat

Planning team: Mehak Jaini, Debopriyo Chakraborty