HBO Gives Entourage Viewers Special Access
HBO is in the midst of a tune-in promotion for its summer show, The Entourage, that puts a new spin on loyalty marketing.
The cable network is distributing Entourage cards good for perks at clubs, restaurants and retailers in six cities. HBO has 300 partners in all, including Mercedes Benz and several liquor brands.
Cardholders get a CD that takes them to an HBO microsite, where they give their e-mail address and cell phone number. Then cardholders get weekly e-mail and text messages with special offers and events from participating brandsfree cocktails, discounts at high-end boutiques, cuts in line at hot clubs and an exclusive table with free bottle service. The program has been averaging three bar or club events and two retail deals per week per city, HBO senior VP-marketing Courteney Monroe said.
When cardholders register on the site, they’re automatically entered in a sweeps to win a trip to Las Vegas to stay at the Palms Hotel’s Entourage Suite-a luxury suite outfitted specifically for the promotion, with clothes, accessories and drinks from participating brands. (Regular folks can stay at the suite, too, for $3,500 a night.) HBO hosted a party in June to unveil the suite, with the show’s cast on hand. LIME Public Relations + Promotions, New York City, handles the full program, which runs through July.
To keep it exclusive, HBO will distribute only 10,000 cards in each city (New York, Chicago, Miami, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and San Francisco). The first round went to local DJs, club promoters and other trendsetters in each city; partner brands helped distribute the rest.
“We’re targeting a demographic and psychographic that’s notoriously difficult to reach: young, urban 18- to 35-year-olds, trendsetters,” Monroe said. “This is an innovative way to use grassroots tactics to reach them. It borrows from the notion of what affinity cards do and turned it on its head. We wanted to start with a feeling of exclusivity so word of mouth would build, so we’ve gone after the people on the front line of word-of-mouth.”
Retailers and restaurants display P-O-P (tent cards, napkins, decals) that lets cardholders know there are deals to be had-and gets other customers wondering.
“I got a call asking how to get a card. This person had seen someone else using one, and went online to find out where it came from,” said LIME President Claudia Strauss.
“We wanted to bring the show to life so people could interact with this lifestyle,” added LIME VP Jim Anstey.
New York City-based HBO will measure its success by tracking the number of cards consumers activate and attendance at events. With a database of e-mails and cell phone numbers from as many as 60,000 trendsetters, HBO could send future promos for other shows to those who opt in. “We wouldn’t contact them with information they didn’t want,” Monroe said.
