HBOVOYEUR.COM SEES THE LATEST IN MARKETING GIMMICKS (WSJ)

By Nancy Vialatte

Tonight will see the kick off of a series of short films on HBOVoyeur.com, a new web site devised by HBO. The shorts will center on the adventures that take place in an apartment building. But, says The Wall Street Journal, the heavily promoted shorts have led many to believe they are intended to announce an upcoming show when in reality the whole thing is a strategic marketing move.

HBO hopes the slickly made Web films, produced by its ad agency, Omnicom Group's BBDO, will "reinforce our brand image of being the best place for storytelling," says Courteney Monroe, senior vice president of consumer marketing at HBO.

HBOVoyeur will show eight vignettes about incidents occurring inside different apartments in one city building – think Hitchcock’s “Rear Window.” One installment, titled "The Tempted," shows a husband abandoning his wife after having an affair with another woman in the building. Another, "The Killer Within," features a female resident who turns out to be a murderer. Each of the stories will tie into others, says the WSJ.

BBDO took about a year to create 2½ hours of programming for a total cost in the $7-$10 million range.

As well as raising HBO's brand image, HBOVoyeur is aimed at promoting HBO's subscription video-on-demand and wireless offerings. Not only will the films be available on those platforms in addition to the Web site, each will offer customized extras. HBO will make an additional Voyeur episode called "The Watcher" available only on its video on demand, or VOD. HBO's mobile offering will exclusively carry a 30-second clip that shows supposed security-camera footage from the hallways in the apartment building.

This is a critical time for HBO given the recent conclusion of flagship show “The Sopranos” and a management shake up. Wall Street has speculated that the end of “The Sopranos” could mean a drop-off in HBO subscriptions. Yet, a network spokesman told the WSJ, "Historically, HBO has not seen a dramatic fluctuation in subscribers around any particular show."

With the effort, HBO joins the growing list of marketers trying a subtle gimmick known as "branded entertainment," in which a marketer crafts a show or program that lightly promotes a product. Trying new marketing techniques to generate buzz has long been an HBO specialty, although the marketing world is becoming competitive. And rival TV networks, seeing HBO's success, have become more inventive. Walt Disney's ABC, for example, used dry-cleaner bags to promote "Desperate Housewives."

To promote the launch of HBOVoyeur, the channel is leaving nothing to chance. An elaborate publicity event is planned in New York City today: HBO will project the films onto the side of a building, making it look like the building's facade has been peeled off so viewers can see the action taking place in the eight apartments. HBO is also running ads promoting the Voyeur site online, in magazines, on cable TV and radio and in-theater movie ads.