Countdown to Watchmen

HBO’s new campaign promotes awareness for their new highly anticipated series, Watchmen that premiered October 20th. The show is set in an alternate history where “superheroes” are treated as outlaws, Watchmen embraces the nostalgia of the original groundbreaking graphic novel of the same name while attempting to break new ground of its own.

The campaign includes a mix of digital shelters and newsstands in Manhattan as well as static bus shelters in the outer boroughs. The campaign was HBO’s first Augmented Reality campaign on street furniture. The interactive shelter appeared see through with a view of the street from inside the shelter, but shocked people nearby as a warning icon would flash followed by the oncoming downpour of squids falling from the sky onto the street on the digital screen.

In addition to the AR shelter HBO had a one-day takeover on digital street furniture locations in Manhattan where they had a 100% share of voice to run dynamic content. The dynamic content featured a retro flip clock counting down by the second until the show premiere time. When the clock counted down to zero the branding creative was reposted.

This campaign is a perfect example of an eye-catching and engaging OOH campaign that successfully boosted the excitement about the show.