2011 Issue 55 - Internationalist

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HBO/ Boardwalk Empire — PHD US
HBO’s Boardwalk Empire TV seriess (the epic crime/period crime
drama that tells the story of Atlantic City at the dawn of Prohibition)
was set to debut at a time when the U.S. was both cutting back on
superfluous expenses like premium cable subscriptions and clinging
to the most traditional of broadcast programming.
To escape the current stresses of today’s world, the idea was to reintroduce
the core series themes (The Roaring 20s, Prohibition,
Atlantic City’s Golden Era, Gangsters, etc.) into contemporary society
via a digital strategy titled “Turning 2010 into 1920”.
One element of the campaign included “Mimicry Overlays” that
turned the homepages of The New York Times and Los Angeles Times
into 1920 editions. By blurring the lines of editorial and advertising,
the 1920s front pages were filled with inspired articles and photos (that were in fact “live” series trailers), as well as
“articles” that profiled criminal gangs positioning themselves to control the distribution of alcohol, coverage of
elaborate parties that heralded in the last days of public alcoholic consumption and interviews from public officials
and lobbying groups on their religious views about the proposed Prohibition laws.
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Other campaign elements included animated digital “whisky barrel” mastheads that tumbled across a screen to
break and drip into a series of smaller ads, and the creation of QR coded accessed speakeasy-style bars in key cities
through a partnership with Canadian Club® whisky.
Boardwalk Empire’s premiere attracted nearly 5 million viewers—the best start for an HBO series since 2004.
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Intel/ The Escape — DDB Group Asia Pacific
The new 2nd Generation Intel Core processor is the first of a
new class of computer CPU. However, for many mainstream
consumers, the type of processor inside a computer is no
longer a huge factor in influencing which computer they buy. To
get this disengaged audience interested in the new Core, Intel
had to change the way they think about processors.
YouTube is representative of the everyday, passive computing
experience. Intel transformed it to become more immersive,
more interactive, and more socially-networked than ever before.
The audience became the star of a Bourne Identity-style techno-thriller called The Escape. Their mission was to
rendezvous with a sexy secret agent, retrieve a mysterious envelope, and evade two ruthless pursuers. They had to
use the product attributes of the Core processor to secure their escape. These product features transformed the
YouTube experience, creating astonishing ways of escaping that would not be possible in an ordinary world.
By placing them into the middle of a thrilling interactive narrative that brings together film, interactivity and social
networking, the story of the Intel Core was came to life by allowing the audience to experience the benefits.
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