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Big news—I’m enjoying writing & creating again. Even taking a stab at making marketing videos (apologies for the thigh shot). I blame a bunch of new music discoveries, like this dreamy indie rock EP from a new band called Spin (Turnover’s original guitar player if you’re a fellow Elder Emo). I also grabbed tickets to see Rob Thomas at Pier 17, which I’m ridiculously excited about (man it’s a hot one).

I digress. Let’s talk social, like

• HBO Max’s rerebrand and brilliant content campaign

• Hubspot’s new social strategy playbook

• What authenticity in social media actually looks like.

—Jack Appleby

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HBO Max’s hysterical & content-heavy social campaign to announce their re-re-brand

Bitch, you better be joking.

Not my words! That’s Maddy to Sydney Sweeney in Season 2 of Euphoria… and also, Maddy to her streaming service’s choice this week to re-brand back to HBO Max in what’s maybe my favorite social campaign of the year.

You heard right—after HBO Max was lambasted for reblanding as just “Max” in 2023, they flipped a U-turn and announced this week they’re becoming HBO Max again.

That type of decision’s naturally ripe for PR coverage and earned media, but what’s really incredible is how self-aware and leaned in the brand’s gone with the social campaign to announce the news.

Let’s look at the strategy, the amount of content, and how they’ve expertly used their own IP in a way sure to draw both new and lapsed users.

First, a golf clap for the rerebrand

Genuinely, I think it’s fantastic when a company not only admits they’re wrong, but do it this quickly. How many executives have we worked for that’d go down with their ship of bad decisions? How many gigantic, slow moving companies have we seen unable to pivot when needed?

Two make the call to bring back the HBO Max brand after just two years is magnificent speed, regardless of why they made the decision. This is the kind of big decision agility more companies should aspire to, and create a culture that encourages it.

Being in on the bit is a superpower

@streamonmax

Rolls off the tongue.

So HBO Max made their big decision. Now the marketing and social teams had to figure out the strategy & tone to share the message.

They clearly ran with an insight most brands would be too afraid to use.

HBO knows that their constant name changes, even in the HBO Go & HBO Now phases, have always induced eyerolls.

So they built their entire campaign around self-awareness & acknowledging what we’ve all thought. The campaign tagline? “Same app. New-ish name.” It’s both ironic and genius that the best way to announce the a new name is to reference all the old names.

Authentic in more than one way

Authenticity! Authenticity! Everyone’s always shouting about how brands need to be authentic. HBO Max just became your gold standard for brand authenticity. The re-brand social campaign is:

• Authentic to the moment: they knew what the reaction would be

• Authentic to social media: they’re using internet speak

• Authentic to the overall brand: showcasing their huge library of IP

• Authentic to their shows: letting their characters & actors be themselves

Like, come on. This is so good.

@streamonmax

POV: finding out about the rebrand from @John Cena #HBOMax #JohnCena #Peacemaker

Not one, not two, not three…

So many big marketing campaigns spend all their effort on one primary social post with a few supporting posts to keep the message going.

HBO Max went full send, dropping more videos & posts in 24 hours than I can even count.

This is their TikTok grid from the last day. Every one of these is a different hysterical take on the rebrand through a mixture of old b-roll, movie scenes, and newly captured interviews. And the view numbers speak volumes.

This one’s my personal favorite.

@streamonmax

A slight change. #HBOMax

We all talk about how organic reach isn’t always what we want, which is exactly why you should make MORE CONTENT. Give yourself more chances for success, more chances to break through the clutter!

Lots to learn from here. A shame this is happening as all the social award shows are announcing winners, because this one’s definitely worth & will pick up hardware next time around.