Firefox compatible

Client: HBO
Creative Agency: Real Branding

This expandable banner was part of an innovative media plan created by PHD that targeted social networks and entertainment properties (including real-time in-video game placements) to tap into the passionate fan base of the HBO show Carnivale. The unit allows users to join a message board discussion within the banner around some of the unanswered questions raised by the last season of the show.

By reaching fans at the venues such as MySpace and on blog networks, where they already meet to discuss the show, the unit was able to build buzz and drive awareness of the Season 2 DVD release.
-- Sara Stein, account director, Real Branding

There have been some dire predictions as of late about how the growth of user-generated marketing is signaling the death of the ad agency. Of course that's probably a wee bit of an exaggeration. The agency is not dead, but their monolithic control of brand image is. Smart agencies, the ones that will thrive, are those that can harness for their clients the voice of the consumer. Real Branding's "Message Board in Banner" for HBO's Carnivale shows how agencies are going to have to rethink their creative if they want to tap into this interactive world of word-of-mouth marketing.

Real Branding's work for HBO shows that there is an enormous amount of potential for brands that want to take an active role in helping shape the conversation the consumer is having about their products. Brand-hosted forums for consumers have been around almost a long as the web…but I really love the fresh twist that Real Branding brings to the concept by pushing a real-time forum out as advertising. The message board UI could have been a little richer and the functionality deeper, but this really wasn't designed as a user destination-- it's more of a place a fan could make a quick stop to post a short note about the show and move on.

I see this execution as belonging to a group of early movers that are taking significant steps toward building the base of what brand/agency directed user-generated marketing will become. The ad agency may not be dead, but individual agencies that do not follow Real Branding's lead might not be long for this world.
-- Patrick Barrett, senior interaction designer, Bazaarvoice

Strategically speaking, this ad unit and campaign are right on the money-- tap into a fanatical user base by providing video and interactivity, and then direct each viewer through a series of involving choices. Technically you can't argue with this either-- it has IAB compliant, user-activated sound and small file sizes (I'm assuming, since it loads very quickly).

That being said, this didn't draw me in. I should admit that I have never seen the show, so I'm kind of in the dark... or perhaps purgatory is the better illustration in this case.  I don't have any attachment to any of the characters or what happens to them.

But as this is being aimed at the already passionate fan base, I'd imagine its audience is going to be more engaged in the content. Still, will avid fans want to go out and buy the Season 2 DVD based on the reactions of questions and answers to picture cards-- even if they are user generated and very Web 2.0? Hopefully, the answer is yes. 
-- Matt Wright, director of online video strategy, HowStuffWorks