Ahead of the season three premiere of HBO’s “The White Lotus” this Sunday evening, the network is leaning into brand partnerships to help expand its audience, capture consumer attention across multiple touchpoints and build upon the series’ intersection with pop culture.

The show’s luxurious setting—a fictional resort chain named “The White Lotus”—lends itself well to a partnerships approach, according to Andrew Meengren, VP of HBO and Max Originals Marketing, because it allows the network to broaden its target market through natural commercial tie-ins within other categories, including travel, spirits and hospitality.

For instance, the series’ official spirits partners, Diageo’s Ketel One Vodka and Tanqueray Gin, have launched the “Sip into The White Lotus” campaign, which is anchored by an original short film starring Patrick Schwarzenegger, a new, third-season cast member. We spoke with HBO and Diageo about the series partnership, its multiplatform marketing approach and how the brands are working together to expand their respective audiences.

As search evolves with the growing adoption of Large Language Models (LLMs), businesses must adapt their SEO strategies. LLM-powered search is still in its early stages, but platforms like Perplexity, ChatGPT and Gemini are already providing insights into how the SEO game is changing. Here’s how B2B brands can optimize their content to appear in AI-generated results.

Lastly, pain relief brand Aspercreme is using the admonishment “act your age”—usually intended to encourage “age-appropriate” behavior—as a rallying cry for its core audience of baby boomers. Read how Claudine Patel, Chief Marketing Officer at Aspercreme parent company Opella North America, is busting stereotypes surrounding the cohort through its latest brand campaign.

Until next week,