Bzzzt… Ahhh. Switching on HBO Max.
It is not every day your advertising job gives you the chance to give back. To something that has always been there for you. Something that makes a real difference in people’s lives. Something that gives strangers something to talk about, and long-term couples the chance to avoid talking altogether.
Yes. Television.
In 2026, HBO Max was the latest streaming service to launch in the UK. And Britain was not exactly crying out for another one.
But thankfully, this wasn’t just another one. It was H-B-freaking-O Max, home of some of the most iconic TV, film and live sport on the planet.
The Sopranos. Friends. Game of Thrones. Curb Your Enthusiasm. Champions League. Harry Potter. The White Lotus. That mushroom zombie one with the guy who’s in everything.
The content spoke for itself. Great! Except that’s my job.
So I needed to find a way to show off all that brilliant programming without turning the campaign into one very long and expensive list.
Luckily, HBO Max already had the perfect spokesperson on board. The White Lotus breakout star Aimee Lou Wood had exactly the right chaotic energy to take a traditional clip spot and send it gently off the rails.
Throughout the film, the programming keeps getting in her way.
She wants to quote it. React to it. Argue with it a little.
But mostly, just watch it.
The outdoor gave us another way to have fun with the programming.
Under the banner of “Wall to wall”, we employed some creative taxonomy to bring together shows, films and live sport you wouldn’t normally put in the same sentence, let alone on the same giant billboard.
Suddenly, Jennifer Coolidge was a disaster on the scale of Chernobyl. And footballers found themselves in the company of actual wizards.
A knowing way to show off the sheer quantity of quality.
There was also a Harry Potter-themed takeover of King’s Cross Station, which was a bit of a gimme, really.
To top it off, we somehow convinced Slim Shady himself to let us use one of his biggest tracks. A fitting soundtrack for a line-up of HBO Max icons with plenty to swagger about.
In modern parlance, it was less promo and more competitive mogging.
The social-first film ran across the UK, Germany and Italy.. Bonus points if you can name all 28 films and TV shows featured.