Warner Bros. Discovery marketing chief Shauna Spenley says she and her colleagues will be tuning in more avidly than ever to Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.
“We just cannot wait for his hot take on this whole rebrand,” Spenley said during the company’s upfront presentation to advertisers Wednesday, alluding to the bombshell news that Max is returning to the HBO Max name this summer. “We think it’s going to be pretty hot.”
Spenley, who spent 15 years at Netflix, joined WBD last year as Global Chief Marketing Officer of Direct-to-Consumer. She took the stage after Casey Bloys, CEO of HBO and Max Content, made the big HBO Max reveal, which the audience at the Theatre at Madison Square Garden was still processing as she took the stage.
“You’re probably thinking, ‘Wow, these guys really love to rebrand,’” she said. “Well, you know, it’s been about two years, so that’s been our track record. I’d say now is about the right time.”
As she was speaking, the Max social media accounts were fully leaning into the humor of the about-face, rolling out the pointing-multiple-Spider-Men memes and other get-a-load-of-us images.
Turning to the serious marketing argument, Spenley said, “We all know the market is cluttered. It’s becoming almost like fast fashion. People are saying, ‘I’d rather have one great sweater rather than five that fall apart. The desire for cheap, long-form volumes is waning.”
HBO’s ability to make long-form programming that breaks through and brings audiences and awards is “our competitive advantage,” she said. “It’s the same one we have had on HBO for the last 50 years.”
In making the argument for one-at-a-time episode drops as opposed to binge releases, Spenley played one of Oliver’s “And Now … This” segments from Last Week Tonight capturing motley TV personalities chattering about the White Lotus finale,
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