The Inkwell

While waiting to get my haircut this month, I was flipping through the Village Voice when I spotted the latest marketing effort to make it into Clever, Ink.’s smart thINKing Hall of Fame.

After breezing past several articles and the latest concert scene, I came upon that infamous personals section. You know, the one we all pretend we don’t glance at when we actually can’t help ourselves. And there it was – ad brilliance! No, it was not the tombstone ads boasting erotic massage, or the unbelievably sketchy headlines that caught my attention. Rather, it was HBO’s front and center ad promoting their new show “Hung”.

“Hung” follows the surreal life of Ray Drecker, a former high school sports legend turned middle-aged high school basketball coach who is divorced and struggling to provide for his kids by exploiting his best asset (hint: the show’s title says it all). Chock full of all of the elements that make viewers laugh out loud – role reversal (a former fling becomes Drecker’s “boss)”, ironic tragedy, unrequited bitterness and brilliant writing – the show plays off a man who will try anything to save his dignity while sacrificing it at the same time. For HBO to promote the show via a personal ad. That’s just simply smart.

Why? Foremost, the placement is genius. Forget clutter cutting, HBO obviously did its market research to ascertain that the many men who would “flip” through personals would also be likely to tune into “Hung” (solely for the content, of course.) But the ad also ties in social media elements like a redirect to the live website HappinessConsultants.com, the name of the business Ray and his madame set up dba style. In addition, an 888 number actually ties to a voice mailbox further promoting the show by inviting viewers to “meet” Ray on Sundays at HBO. Way to arm your marketing gurus with tracking tools and useful data for developing future marketing initiatives HBO!

So for a good time, go call 888-588-HUNG. And be sure to jot it down in your little black book of must watch TV. After this ad, HBO deserves giving it a try.