Campaign Overview
Creating spec work for a potential client depends on a few parameters; Are you "light" on relevant examples in a particular industry. What's the competition like. Do you really want the work and the client. Will you have enough time to create spec work that will truely capture your best ideas and visually compell the client to award you the work. All of the above were true when we pitched HBO to work with us. Our strategy was to over-deliver so they wouldn't question our experience...or lack of.
The spec assignment was to come up with a way to target the 18-24 year old market and generate awareness. After conducting numerous field interviews with this target market, our idea was to tap into the "water cooler" aspect of HBO's original programming and create ads that highlighted issues people end up talking about the night after "Sex and the City", "Six Feet Under", etc.. Then, drive people to the community on HBO.com where they can start to get involved in the cult following around the shows, making them feel like they can't live without HBO which lead to the perfect acquisition strategy. As you may have guessed already, they signed us on to for the HBO Match Game project.