Dig Deeper
- Brand
- True Blood
- Year
- 2011
- Objective
- Engagement
- Industry
- Entertainment
- Mechanic
- Quiz & Trivia
- Platform
- Web
- Agency
- BBDO New York
- With
- Feels Like
Objective
HBO needed to sell home-video and digital editions of True Blood's third season and keep fans engaged through the off-season. The goal was to get viewers rewatching the same 30-second season trailer again and again, turning a standard promo spot into proof of fan devotion worth sharing.
Solution
The player lands on hbo.com/digdeeper and gets the season's 30-second trailer loaded into a custom player with pause, slow-motion, zoom, and pan controls. Scrubbing through the frame reveals 60 hidden clues from the season, ranging from obvious (a werewolf mid-transformation) to nearly invisible (a blue sweater glimpsed for a split second). Each clue the player spots and tags earns a badge, which posts to their Facebook profile. Anyone who tags all 60 clues is entered into a drawing for the grand prize: an "Ultimate True Fan Experience" trip.
- 1
A 30-second TV and online spot promoting the season-three DVD and Blu-ray release ends with a call to look closer and directs viewers to hbo.com/digdeeper.
- 2
The site (mirrored at trueblooddigdeeper.com) loads the same ad inside a custom player and invites the player to dig into the footage for hidden references.
- 3
The player watches the spot in full; it is the same commercial, not a separate piece of game footage.
- 4
Using player controls, the player rewatches the clip as many times as needed, slowing playback and zooming and panning across the frame, then clicks on any season-three reference spotted in the action to mark it as found — 60 such clues are hidden across the 30 seconds.
- 5
Clues vary in difficulty: some are obvious at normal speed, like a character's werewolf transformation, while others are fleeting details, like a blue sweater glimpsed for an instant, so a full search can take hours of frame-by-frame study.
- 6
The number of clues found earns the player badges, with more clues unlocking a higher fan level.
- 7
Earned badges post directly to the player's Facebook profile, displaying their fan status to friends.
- 8
A player who marks all 60 clues is entered into a sweepstakes for the grand prize, an "Ultimate True Fan Experience" trip.
