HBO promotes comedy with Fetish campaign

PHYSICAL: Show clips available on Web sites, windows

By Laurence Lerman -- Video Business, 7/2/2009

Screengrab of HBO's ComedyFetish.com
ComedyFetish.com is hosted by a man in a smoking jacket.

JULY 2 | PHYSICAL: HBO Home Entertainment’s new multi-layered summer campaign to promote its comedy programming and their availability on DVD is no joke.

The studio has launched a Web site for comedy lovers called ComedyFetish.com, where consumers can “explore” their own specific brands of “comedy fetishes.”

The site revolves around hundreds of video clips from HBO comedy shows, including the series Entourage, Eastbound & Down, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Flight of the Conchords, Little Britain USA and Summer Heights High, as well as stand-up comedy specials from such artists as Chris Rock and Ricky Gervais.

Clips are filed under a variety of comedy-flavored fetish categories, with such headings as “Hot and Sticky Situations,” “Verbal Penetration,” “Bare Naked Aggression,” “Hardcore Awkward Silences” and so on.

Each fetish is introduced by a smoking-jacket-clad host who also appears in a selection of newly produced viral videos that can be accessed on the site.

The DVDs of the shows referenced on the site are available for purchase via links to www.BarnesandNoble.com, and clips can be downloaded on iTunes. Other features on the site include five customized e-cards and a playlist function.

“This campaign was created to give audiences a distinctive place to get their comedy fix,” said Meredith Ketchum, VP of marketing at HBO. “We’ve assembled an impressive group of comedy clips and a variety of fun ways for consumers to sample and enjoy these terrific HBO shows before committing to a purchase.”

Another significant part of HBO's campaign includes a partnership between HBO and FunnyOrDie.com, the comedy Web site co-founded by Will Ferrell. FunnyOrDie is creating a group of exclusive, fetish-themed video clips with such HBO talents as Rex Lee of Entourage and Craig Robinson of Eastbound & Down that will roll out on the FunnyOrDie site throughout July and August.

Example of how HBO's Comedy Fetish windows will look
HBO's Comedy Fetish campaign will take over store windows in New York.

Other aspects of the campaign include online banner ads on such Web sites as IMDB, Yahoo! and MySpace; wild postings featuring comedy fetishes in cities across the country; and a “Comedy Fetish Finder Quiz” on Facebook, which analyzes users’ comedy fetishes.

The most visible piece of the campaign will hit in HBO’s hometown of New York City. On July 6, HBO will unveil an interactive “storescape” of windows at the corner of 5th Avenue and 43rd Street designed to resemble an old school Times Square “peep show.” Instead of flashing snatches of adult entertainment, the ComedyFetish.com-branded windows will entice viewers with short HBO comedy clips.

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