When Pia Barlow joined HBO Max as SVP of HBO Max Originals Marketing in January, she, like many others who had just started new jobs, couldn’t have predicted just how much her initial plans were about to be upended.
But once March hit and it became clear much of the country (and the world) would have to lock down to contain the virus, marketers across all industries began pivoting their plans — including HBO Max, owned by AT&T’s WarnerMedia. Although streaming services in general have enjoyed a surge in viewership as everyone stays home, they, too, had to rethink some of their marketing tactics.
“When the country shut down in March, we were in full swing on executing plans for our day-one launch,” said Barlow. “Just like many companies, we had to take a look at the plan, table it, and say, ‘OK, where are our audiences right now?’”
HBO Max launched officially May 27, though it was announced in late 2019. It’s an ambitious streaming service that offers not only HBO content, but also shows and movies from WarnerMedia’s vast library.
Barlow joined HBO Max along with Peter Sherman, both of whom share marketing duties for HBO Max’s growing list of originals. Under Barlow’s remit are a number of titles including “Love Life,” starring Anna Kendrick; “Legendary,” the reality competition series about voguing; dating series “12 Dates of Christmas,” set to air this holiday season; and most recently, Seth Rogen’s “An American Pickle.” She also has been working on a Steven Soderbergh project in addition to some of HBO Max’s children’s programming, a growing genre from the streaming service.
“HBO hasn’t really historically focused on kids’ shows outside of Sesame Street, but Max is really thinking about creating a full offering for the entire household through Max Originals,” says Barlow. Among the projects in the works on this front is one with animator and author Mo Willems, best known for his work on Sesame Street and for children’s books like “Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus.”
During its second-quarter earnings call, AT&T said that the new service helped grow HBO and HBO Max subscribers by a net 1.7 million in the first half of 2020. In total, HBO and HBO Max had 36.3 million U.S. subscribers, up from 34.6 million at the end of 2019. But, as Variety noted, the traditional HBO brand lost 2.1 million subscribers during the first quarter.
AT&T also said that there were close to 3 million new subscribers to HBO Max via online signups since its launch and 4.1 million total “activations” of the HBO Max app, including those that signed up from an existing HBO subscription.
Despite the growth, the streaming service’s launch did cause some initial confusion between the new brand, HBO Now (which was geared toward subscribers who did not have traditional cable subscriptions) and HBO Go (which was geared toward those who had HBO through cable companies and worked as a platform to watch HBO content on smart TVs and devices). Just a few weeks after launch, WarnerMedia said it would discontinue the HBO Go app and retire the HBO Now name to eliminate confusion, according to the L.A.Times.
Barlow’s new role focusing on marketing originals for HBO Max is a return to the HBO family. She worked there for more than 10 years until her departure for Nexflix in 2014. While at HBO, she worked her way up from executive assistant to director of advertising and promotions, building a reputation for launching some of HBO’s most creative campaigns for shows like “Boardwalk Empire,” “Girls” and “The Newsroom.”
Since leaving HBO in 2014, she’s worked at Netflix twice: first in a global creative marketing role for some Netflix originals, and then as head of marketing for nonfiction and kids & family programming. In between those two Netflix stints, she was SVP of worldwide theatrical marketing strategy and communications at Twentieth Century Fox.
Barlow caught up with Brand Innovators from her home in Los Angeles to talk about her new role, how she’s approaching HBO Max originals, how she pivoted her messaging amid COVID and how HBO Max stands out in a crowded streaming space. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
You started this role in January, and surely whatever expectations you may have had going in have changed. Can you talk about what you had to pivot in your new role? How much did marketing plans change for Max originals and how?
When the country shut down in March, we were in full swing on executing plans for our day-one launch. That included titles like “Love Life” and “Legendary” — those were in the first wave of originals with our product launch. Just like many companies, we had to take a look at the plan, table it, and say, OK, where are audiences right now? They’re certainly not outside. We all had to be nimble and adapt to the changing needs of consumers.
Part of that was adjusting media spend away from live and outdoor to linear TV, digital, audio and video because that’s where audiences were flocking. On the Max Originals side, the saving grace was that we’re primarily digital and social first anyway, because we’re a streaming platform. We spend 80% of our media spend on digital and social because that’s the easiest conversion and that’s where the products is. Ultimately, we did a lot of tactical tweaks versus big strategic switches.
But it’s not like we scrapped events altogether. We made virtual watch events and conversations. We leaned on influencers, we did at-home watch kits, we did social live events. So a lot of the things that you have probably seen in the marketplace have been employed. But in March, everyone thought, “alright, what do we do now?” Especially on the Max Originals side, the saving grace of it all was that we’re primarily digital and social first. We spend 80% or so of our media spend on digital and social, because that’s the easiest conversion and that’s where the product is. It was a lot of tactical tweaks rather than big endemic strategic shifts.
For “Love Life,” we had a whole partnership with Bumble. It’s about this woman’s love-life journey, so Bumble was a great match. We transformed this idea of dinner and a move into a virtual experience. So we offered a virtual dinner and a movie and gave away $20 food-delivery gift cards and a preview of an episode, so it was a shared experience that you and your Bumble match can do together but virtually. We were also going to do a red carpet premiere, but it turned into a virtual premiere. We had to build a whole viewing theater experience with an “after party” room in something like 6 weeks. That was a pretty extensive build out. These were interesting because we were able to create these shared experiences, even though they were virtual.
How far were you into these plans before they had to be pivoted?
We were halfway through planning for a physical event. From a planning perspective, it was pretty laid out, but after you spend time mourning what it was, and you realize there’s no time to lose because you’re still launching the platform on May 27. Nothing brings people together and gets innovative ideas going more than a shared challenge and a deadline.
HBO typically hasn’t had a lot of focus on kids & family, but that’s changing wirth HBO Max. What’s the strategy behind the push into more kids content?
The way I think about it is by looking at HBO and HBO Max and their relationship to each other. Their shared DNA is premium quality. And the way to think about Max is to expand beyond HBO’s core focus to include genres and programming that appeal to other members of the household. So whether it’s kids and family, female-skewing or Gen Z, the intent is to make sure we’re not trying to be a superstore — we’re still being curated in our approach — but we want to make sure we’re creating content that services the whole family.
The foray into kids and family — and I know this from being at Netflix — means there are different kinds of content that drive a lot of acquisitions and sign-ups, but the accounts who watched kids and family retain longer. It’s just a stickier product when you have a household watching the platform.
It’s still early days for us and our platform and we’re still trying to figure out who our core subscriber is right now. We’re in expansion mode, so we want to make sure we have content that serves everyone.
With so much competition in streaming, and with so many platforms creating their own originals, what’s your strategy and positioning for standing out?
At the end of the day it’s not a zero sum game, there won’t be just one winner. You’re already starting to see each platform develop its own personality. We’re positioned to be one of the stickiest, and it starts with our content offering. While we’re in the full service category with breadth and depth of content for the household, premium curation is still a super power with us. It’s what HBO’s always been. And now it’s just expanding. HBO’s been synonyms with ground breaking, thought provoking, relevant programming, and so Max will share that DNA, but also be a little more accessible because of the different audiences we’re serving.
Curation matters and thankfully the early signals of our HBO Max subscribers show that they are living the variety from HBO and the big Warner Bros. franchises and this new slate of Max originals. Our IP franchise will be a distinguishing factor for us.
And then there’s our tech experience. Our UX and UI feel very distinct. It’s truly designed with a more human touch. I think about endless scroll — it’s something we all suffer through when we’re making decisions, and so we’re trying to make discovering content not only more time efficient but also a little more fun. One example of this is we’re doing a curation program with people like Selena Gomez, who has her show “Selena & Chef.” People want to know what people like Selena Gomez and Ridley Scott are watching.
For how we are standing out through marketing, the way I think about the days of one thing to rule them all — I don’t think that’s necessary anymore. To stand out, we just have to focus on understanding our core consumers in an on-demand world where people have infinite options beyond TV and streaming. If I can solve what emotional benefit I’m giving you through a show, then my strategy and tactics will show.
Are there different audiences for HBO Max Originals and HBO Originals? If so, how would you describe them?
They share that premium DNA I mentioned, but the HBO audience is more auteur and prestige, whereas with HBO Max it’s a sliding scale and it’s a bit more accessible.
Your career started out with you being an exec assistant to the CMO, Courtney Monroe, at HBO. How did working for her inspire you and what were your long-term goals — did you ever think you’d return back to HBO after such a long tenure the first time around?
When I started, I had very little exposure to entertainment marketing. I loved HBO as a brand. When I started at HBO I had worked at the legal department for a year. Didn’t really know what to do; it was kind of a mid-20s quandary. But in meeting more people there I met Courtney. After five minutes of talking to her, I told her I wanted to learn from her. She really opened my mind to possibilities.
She asked me what I loved and what interested me in marketing. I said I loved the marriage of creative and how to apply it. At the time it was Sex and the City, Sopranos, it wasthe most exciting time at HBO — Sex and the City and the Sopranos. And so very quickly I had a taste and immediately fell in love. I liked the ability of connecting people through storytelling.
I continued to have relationships with many people at HBO, and I always kind of wanted to come back but I also didn’t necessarily expect to come full circle. But when I left HBO for Netflix it was to learn something new. At that time, it was like joining an upstart, which is hard to think of them as, but they had just started their investment in originals. I was excited by the idea of not doing things because that’s how things were done. I loved the idea of startup experimentation and that opportunity to lean head first into social and digital first. That’s where I saw audience consumption of content and I wanted to be a part of it.
What’s been your favorite Max original so far?
It depends on my mood, but one of my favorite ones is “Doom Patrol.” I wouldn’t say I’m a big DC nerd, but I think it surprised me because it’s irreverent but I thought the characters were comical and dark. But it talks about mental health and queer identity in a way that feels so woven into the characters. It’s so real and timely and current. It’s one of those shows that originated on the DC Universe app. But it was very well loved but didn’t get the audience it deserved on the app.
Maureen Morrison is a strategic advisor and editorial consultant for Brand Innovators. She is the founder of consultancy Irving Park LLC, based in San Francisco.
