Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Tru Blood Spoof Had Me Going

I have to admit that when I saw the ads for the Tru Blood beverage, I thought they were real. I was really, honestly believing that a company was promoting a synthetic blood-like beverage. After tasting Red Bull and some of the other things on the market, how could I not believe it!

As it turns out these were actually ads for a new HBO show about vampires.

My hat is off to the folks at HBO - this was a great campaign! The shows that run on cable, specifically on HBO and Showtime, are pushing the boundaries of what television will allow and as a result they are putting some amazing content into the marketplace, but also following this up with their advertising strategy is a stroke of pure brilliance!

The campaign was written in a way that people believed it to be true. They even supplemented it with a faux-dating site for vampires and real people. It doesn't hurt that right now we see a lot of vampire press related to this show as well as the Twilight series from Stephanie Meyer.

As for the show, I am pretty sure it will be good. If it's on HBO, then it is a foregone conclusion that it will be a top-notch presentation, though possibly only to a targeted audience. I will be checking it out to see what I think. Maybe you should too!

(and no - HBO is not a client).

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