Case Study

Last Week Tonight S4

HBO

Concepting
Live-Action
Finishing
On-Staff Directors

John Oliver as the hook for brand-level synergy.

In HBO’s talks with John Oliver and his showrunners about how best to promote his upcoming season, they hit upon a simple premise that could combine multiple shows while using John’s uniquely self-effacing style: What if John shows up on the wrong HBO show sets?

It’s HBO’s world, John’s just living in it.

For it to work, we knew we had to find the shows and the language that at first sounds like we’re promoting John, but always ends up being a different show, with John comedically humiliated.

We explored dozens of scenarios and cameos across all of HBO’s returning shows until the stars finally aligned — figuratively and literally — resulting in three of HBO's biggest titles signing on: Game of Thrones, Silicon Valley and Curb Your Enthusiasm.

:90 Launch Spot

Maximum production value.

The more our scenes felt ripped from the shows, the funnier the punchlines would be. So we set out to match the look and feel of each in painstaking detail.

The Game Of Thrones intro wouldn't work unless we matched its massive production value, so we rebuilt the iconic Throne Room from the show's original set plans.

For Silicon Valley, we shot on their house set with Kumail Nanjiani (who, with some encouragement, unleashed a hilarious flow of improv, mercilessly insulting John).

For Curb Your Enthusiasm, we shot in the show’s signature handheld style, enhancing Larry's no-nonsense presence with a blue popsicle to eat (forcing us to stop periodically to address his blue lips).

Social | Larry David

Social | Kumail Nanjiani

John’s rejection? Totally embraced.

With Last Week Tonight’s popularity (and Emmy wins) rising, and by leveraging the social channels of the shows and talent across all four titles, the spot turned into a de facto brand campaign.

It quickly went viral, with over 50 million organic views across social and over 5 million views on YouTube alone, with the top comment declaring it "one of the best promos for a TV show I've ever seen."

Awards