How HBO used Ecosystem Design for the Watchmen Launch — Community-Embedded Influencer Strategy
- Ecosystem Design
- Strategy
- Studio
HBO's Own Machine Had a Blind Spot · Partnership With consciously · 400+ at the Atlanta Pre-Screening · Comic Con Activation · Content, Events, and Cross-Community Reach
THE CHALLENGE
HBO is a household name associated with premium content, with its own marketing machine worthy of its titan-sized contributions to pop culture. At the same time, the marketing teams at HBO know they aren’t the end-all be-all of getting new shows into the hands and minds of all its target audiences. This was especially true of the channel’s new efforts to introduce more-diverse, Black-led shows, ones creatively driven by social issues felt deeply by Black audiences. Knowing that they could use some help reaching more diverse communities and generating hype for its new Watchmen series, HBO reached out to small agencies deeply embedded in the community.
THE OUTCOME
HBO tapped Consciously and our media partner Black Nerd Problems to assist with event promotion and cross-collaboration with Black influencers in the comics, sci-fi, animation, and cosplay communities. We collaborated with the popular blog community at Black Nerd Problems to create content and help promote events designed to get people not just watching but talking about the new Watchmen series. The collaborations gave the show the opportunity to feature more prominently on people’s “must watch” radars, while providing a platform for the outstanding work of the folks at Black Nerd Problems to have their own impressions and anticipations about the series heard widely.
First published in 1986, the Watchmen comic was a punch to the gut for readers across the globe, as well as publishers. It completely upended our conception of superhero comics while holding up an uncomfortably sharp mirror to the behavior of own society writ large. Distinctly focused on the neo-conservative, economy-first politics of the Thatcher/Reagan era, the comic has nevertheless had a lasting impact through its forward thinking commentary and criticism-by-allegory that pulls absolutely no punches.
Recognizing that the original Watchmen had cachet precisely because it had something to say about its own era, HBO sought to make its new Watchmen spinoff series every bit as thought-provoking and worthy of discussion. The show creators and head writers spun an ambitious tale of a future America where the issues of our own past and our present manifest visibly — and ominously.
This was an iconic moment and we’re happy we were apart of it.
Rai-mon Nemar Barnes, CEO Consciously
In short, like the original comic, the new show was designed to get people talking. To get the conversation started, HBO partnered with organizations like Consciously. We were tasked with helping work alongside prominent influencers and trusted voices in the Black “nerd culture” circle to create content and facilitate events discussing the show.
One partnership we formed was with the website Black Nerd Problems (BNP), which predominantly features young, diverse and PoC voices talking about the things they love most: comics, superheroes, sci-fi, speculative fiction, cosplay, anime, and more.
BNP describes itself as a “site and a social media destination hypes, reviews, and criticizes pop culture from a Black perspective. We speak from our varied individual Black experiences, with room for other people of color, about the things we’re passionate about.”
Another major task at hand was implementing our proven content production system to amplify the value created Being a deliberate product of the now, the new HBO Watchmen series straddled multiple interest categories and genre lines. Our goal in creating events and partnering with influencers was for everyone in these various culture/interest camps to hear about the show and understand how much promise it offered. We helped throw a promotional event in Atlanta which offered a live pre-screening of the first episode. The screening was followed by a panel hosted by “the peerless Kid Fury,” as BNP editor in chief calls him. Over 400 people attended the event, who also helped spread the reach of the show through their own social media postings and reactions.
.@Watchmen debuts tonight and we’re all the way here for Regina King kicking ass. #HBOPartner #WatchmenHBO pic.twitter.com/4JWuZGrUrN
— Black Nerd Problems (@BlkNrdProblems) October 20, 2019
The Atlanta event followed a screening hosted at Comic Con, where BNP writers were also present to watch and help discuss. Consciously helped strategize, execute, and promote both events while creating thoughtful content around them and the launch of the show itself.
Refusing to steep itself in the exact kind of nostalgia the original Watchmen parodied, HBO’s Watchman managed to be both provocative and engrossing. The goal of bringing the show to diverse audiences and getting them talking was helped along by thoughtful promotion, collaboration, event marketing, and content creation facilitated by Consciously and other partnered companies. We were honored to be there to help give such a creative and kickass show the attention and fanfare it deserved.
Pod of Conscious Marketing Architects
Visioneer
Rai-mon Nemar Barnes
Actioneer
Jarrod Lipsky
Actioneer
Phil
Actioneer
Li
Actioneer
Mark
SEO Research and Strategy
Brand strategy
Content Strategy
Social media strategy
Marketing/promotional video
Display ads
Tradeshow booth design
Visioneer
Will Evans
Actioneer
Mary Ellen
Actioneer
Mary Ellen
Actioneer
Julia
Content Production
Content Distribution
Website Messaging
Case studies
Brand style guides
Company values
Our Case Studies
C-Suite’s Guide to Unconscious Bias
"While climate has global effects, the solutions lay within local municipalities across the country." – Rai-mon Nemar Barnes
Brand Strategy + Growth for Energy SaaS
Branding a New Line of Business Without Losing Legacy Clients · Strategy, Execution, and Product Marketing Under One Roof
From Race Concept to Branded Event NYC Business Community
A Race That Needed an Identity Before It Had a Name · Naming, Branding, Sponsorship, Website, and Campaign as One System · Built to Grow Year Over Year
Brand Strategy, Product Design + Campaign for Sustainable Finance Platform
A Fintech Platform That Needed to Educate Before It Could Convert · Brand Strategy + Product Design + #AskSustainable Campaign · A Consistent Voice Across Every Channel and Touchpoint
Branding and Ecosystem Design for a Global FinTech Venture Firm
Values-Driven Finance Needs Trust Infrastructure · Stakeholder Mapping Across Institutions and Individuals · An Ecosystem Strategy That Earns Trust at Every Level
Webby-Nominated Branding and Product Design for the World’s Most Sustainably Certified Seafood Company
A Category Leader Whose Brand Hadn't Caught Up to Its Certifications · Branding, Product Design, and Ecosystem Strategy as One Platform · Webby Award Nominated 2023
Brand Strategy for an AR Experience Company Featured at MoMA and Tied to a Netflix Documentary
An AR Platform Built to Rewrite How We See History · Selected Alongside for MoMA Exhibition · App Launched the Day Trevor Noah Hosted a Town Hall With Will Smith · Branding, Ecosystem Design, Research, and Campaign Strategy
Brand Strategy and Platform Launch for On-Demand Talent Network
A 15-Year-Old Mentorship Organization Needed a Commercial Platform · Brand Identity, Website, and Performance Marketing · NBA Foundation Inaugural Grant: The Work Got Noticed · Brands Including Moët Hennessy, PepsiCo, AT&T, Google, P&G, and Spotify
Brand Strategy + Ecosystem Design for Chicago’s $7.5B Health Innovation District
A $7.5B+ Opportunity in One of Chicago's Most Historically Significant Neighborhoods · Brand Strategy, Stakeholder Research, and Pitch Collateral · 100+ Acres. 20% Affordable Housing. A New Metra Stop. 105% Renewable Energy. · Equitable Placemaking at Scale
Marketing Strategy and Execution for One of the Worlds leading Cultural Institutions
Five-Scholar Curation Council. A Months-Long Festival. A Marketing Brief Like No Other. · Audience Research, Influencer Strategy, and Content Production at Cultural Scale · Transmitting an Undefinable Energy to the Right Audiences
Influencer Strategy + Event Marketing for HBO’s Watchmen Launch
HBO's Own Machine Had a Blind Spot · Partnership With consciously · 400+ at the Atlanta Pre-Screening · Comic Con Activation · Content, Events, and Cross-Community Reach
2 Million Reached: Brand + Campaign for Brooklyn Incubator
One of NYC's Biggest Economic Zones and incubator Needed an · Brand Strategy, Web Platform, and #BuildTheFutureNYC Campaign · 2M+ Reach Across Five Boroughs · A Blueprint Other Cities Are Now Following
Agency of Record Brand Strategy + Content for Identity Security Leader
Unmatched Technology. No Brand Voice to Match It. · Website Rebuild + Brand Strategy + Content System as Agency of Record · From Legacy Web 1.0 to Thought Leadership Platform · A Company Now Trusted by 30+ Fortune 100 Clients
Brand Strategy + Community Health Outreach for National Telehealth + In-Clinic
Funding Cuts. Then a Pandemic. A 100-Year-Old Organization Needed a New Reach Strategy · Audience Research Across BIPOC, Transgender, and Low-Income Communities · Brand Voice, Go-to-Market, Telehealth Activation, and Geofencing · Awareness, Reach, and Foot Traffic All Showed Marked Improvement
AI Company Using Humans for Content — Numerify
Building a Content Machine for an AI Analytics Company
Superbowl Staffing Agency Needs New Thinking — BCforward
Helping an international transformation change agent to define their public expression
Connecticuts’ State Bank Manifests Community — Nutmeg
Connecticuts' State Bank wanted to connect better with it's ecosystem
The Systems Brand Trust Driver™
Your brand sees the bigger picture and works toward interconnected solutions.
National Growth Marketing Campaign for Legacy National Non-profit
Place-Based Community at National Scale · Ecosystem Activation Across Diverse Stakeholder Groups · What It Means to Market Belonging
Brand Identity Refresh + Marketing That Delivered 10x Engagement
A Brand Defined by One Name Needed a Voice of Its Own · Identity + Positioning + Campaign Infrastructure · 10x Across Awareness, Reach, and Engagement
Brand Identity + Messaging for a Regulated HealthTech Company
Regulated Spaces Demand Precise Visual and Verbal Systems · Identity Built for Trust Under Scrutiny · Messaging That Works for Both Patients and Providers
Post-Acquisition Brand Unification as Agency of Record
Two Acquisitions. One Year. Millions of Jira Users Watching. · Brand Strategy During a Global Crisis · Agency of Record: Content, Branding, Social, and Brand Anthem · Three Entities. One Cohesive Brand.
Boston Needs Racial Wealth Equity Data — Boston Foundation
Providing resources for grant makers in Boston and the Massachusetts area.
The Sustainability Brand Trust Driver™
You integrate environmental responsibility into every decision.
The Regenerative Brand Trust Driver™
You challenge traditional business models by prioritizing sustainability and regeneration.
The Culture Brand Trust Driver™
You build trust from the inside out by fostering a strong, values-driven culture.
EASI Demographics: Helping One of the Country’s Largest Data Suppliers Look the Part
Three Distinct Buyer Personas. One Coherent Brand. · Rebrand Built for a High-End Client Roster · Ecommerce and Sales Journey Redesign
Strengthening the Identity of an Organization Focused on Diversity and Equity — Coalition On Race
A New Jersey Community focused on equity for more than 50 years
Aligning Five Acquired Companies Under One Inclusive Brand for Digital Transformation Leader
Post-Acquisition Brand Alignment Across Five Companies · Values Built Into Style Guide and Production Process · Equity as Infrastructure, Not Add-On
