How HBO used online game fandom to market ‘The Final of Us’

HBO’s advertising and marketing staff continued to drop teasers for the present over the next 12 months, together with one other picture shared in partnership with Ps for its Summer season Recreation Fest occasion and the primary trailer throughout “The Final of Us” Day 2022, which gained over 57 million natural views in its first 72 hours (the most-watched promo within the community’s historical past, in line with HBO).

“We referred to as it breadcrumb content material,” mentioned Giannusa, who outlined the time period as slowly giving “the followers little items of breadcrumbs to indicate that we will keep trustworthy to the supply materials, however with the premium high quality of HBO.”

They added that “you do not have to start out proper out the gate with all the pieces … particularly for video video games—and I feel that is simply my mantra generally—you must at all times be listening to the information and the audiences and the insights. We have been actually lucky to start out a 12 months out and be capable to map content material and experiences to particular audiences, and ensure it spoke to them to ensure this factor lands.”

For instance, when initially planning the “The Final of Us” marketing campaign, Giannusa anticipated to must launch explainer posts, letters of endorsement from the sport’s creators and side-by-side photographs of the present and recreation to show its constancy. However these parts have been referred to as off after they noticed the fandom rallying round content material and shepherding new followers into the group.

“We simply let the followers do their factor and noticed that habits—we do not really want to create all this game-to-screen content material, as a result of the followers are doing it for us,” mentioned Giannusa. “Let’s proceed to gasoline the content material sphere with issues like [“HBO’s The Last of Us”] podcast that may communicate to them and get them speaking about subsequent episodes.”