{"id":192805,"date":"2025-04-19T13:11:18","date_gmt":"2025-04-19T13:11:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/advertising\/why-hacks-season-4-marketing-campaign-is-so-jean-smart\/"},"modified":"2025-04-19T13:11:18","modified_gmt":"2025-04-19T13:11:18","slug":"why-hacks-season-4-marketing-campaign-is-so-jean-smart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=192805","title":{"rendered":"Why Hacks’ Season 4 Marketing Campaign Is So (Jean) Smart"},"content":{"rendered":"


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It\u2019s a full house at HBO this spring, and the company is taking a Smart<\/em> approach to its marketing.<\/p>\n

With the third season of White Lotus<\/a> recently coming to an end, and The Last of Us Season 2 <\/a>taking its slot for Sunday night programming, HBO is banking on a lot of its popular drama franchises to generate attention in the months ahead\u2014but the network doesn\u2019t want you to forget about its half-hour comedies either.<\/p>\n

Hacks, the Emmy-winning series starring Jean Smart as veteran comedian Deborah Vance and Hannah Einbinder as emerging comedy writer Ava Daniels, premiered its fourth season between the two series. And to get the word out, HBO wanted to lean into an extensive marketing campaign, including several out-of-home (OOH) stunts, digital executions, and brand partnerships all centering on the comedic and glamorous world of Smart\u2019s Deborah Vance. <\/p>\n

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Dana Flax, vp of originals marketing at HBO and Max, noted that this year\u2019s goal was to build on recent momentum, especially in the wake of the show\u2019s win for Outstanding Comedy Series at the Emmys last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s relatively rare for us to see a show, particularly a comedy, entering its fourth season as a real audience growth opportunity,\u201d Flax told ADWEEK. \u201cThat\u2019s usually when we have our audience established, but given the way the industry embraced the show, we saw a real opportunity to bring some new audiences.\u201d<\/p>\n

Showing that growth opportunity, HBO noted the trailer for the fourth season of Hacks, which debuted on March 11, surpassed trailer viewership for Season 1 through Season 3 by 85%.<\/p>\n

Placing Deborah Vance\u2019s presence everywhere<\/strong><\/h4>\n

In the show, Smart portrays Vance as a force to be reckoned with, who absolutely loves the attention and the glitzy lifestyle that comes along with it. To lean into the Season 4 storyline in Las Vegas, Flax said she wanted to approach it with a multi-platform and in-world strategy, which featured some meta and satirical elements, positioning the character of Deborah Vance as a real-life person.<\/p>\n

For the OOH portion of the campaign, HBO projected an image of Vance on a digital resort billboard, one of the biggest LED screens in Las Vegas, which was a nod to the character\u2019s longstanding residency within the show. Crescent moon billboards of Deborah Vance with Ava Daniels hanging off the side were also displayed in Los Angeles and New York.<\/p>\n

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When Jean Smart made an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! to promote the show, Kimmel showed one of the billboards, even commenting about the popularity of Smart\u2019s character.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have more billboards around than an actual late-night talk show,\u201d Kimmel joked. <\/p>\n

HBO and Max also created a special video featuring real late-night talk show hosts like Chelsea Handler, Andy Cohen, George Lopez, Craig Ferguson, and Roy Wood. Jr. welcoming Deborah Vance to the Late-Night Club.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnother woman in late-night? Come on,\u201d Handler jokingly says in the video. <\/p>\n

Max even worked with entertainment journalist Matt Belloni, known for his podcast The Town, on a fake segment where he mentions Deborah Vance, making a comment on how the comedian is already \u201cfacing staffing issues\u201d on her new late-night talk show.<\/p>\n

Additionally, there were fictional Late Night with Deborah Vance \u201csponsored\u201d cocktail happy hours in the offices of top talent and entertainment news agencies across Los Angeles. As part of the bit, the fictional late-night talk show attempted to \u201cpoach\u201d some of the top talent in entertainment by sending cocktail kits and DIY-style \u201cresignation letters\u201d to fellow comedians and late-night hosts, encouraging them to call Deborah Vance when they\u2019re ready to \u201cshake things up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Regarding activations, HBO debuted the House of Vance pop-up on April 11, timed to Coachella, which took over the Casa Chino Estate in Palm Springs\u2014complete with a pool to surprise fans with exclusive merch like limited-edition tote bags and branded playing cards, activities like tarot reading and portrait stations, and drag performances including a DJ set from Trixie Mattel.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was the perfect opportunity to reach out to younger, queer audiences who were there for Lady Gaga,\u201d Flax said.<\/p>\n

The network also collaborated with California-based upscale grocery chain Erewhon for a Deborah Vance Juice that was offered at five locations for one day, priced at $4.10 to coincide with the April 10 premiere date of the season, with 100% of profits going toward the LAFD Foundation.<\/p>\n

Flax said that within a few hours, the juice was sold out on premiere day, and it resulted in Erewhon restocking the limited-edition juices for two more days.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a colleague go to the Culver City location at 8:30 in the morning on the premiere, and she said she couldn\u2019t find them because they were all gone,\u201d Flax said. \u201cSo that was pretty epic and a super fun way to celebrate the show.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

BMW rolls with Deborah<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Meanwhile, Warner Bros. Discovery U.S. Advertising Sales teamed up with BMW of North America for a bespoke ad partnership featuring original and custom content with Mark Indelicato, who plays Vance\u2019s assistant in the series. According to the company, the partnership is supposed to \u201cplayfully\u201d highlight the features and connectivity of BMW vehicles.<\/p>\n

The 90-second spot, which debuted on ad-supported Max plans for the April 17 episode, features Indelicato taking control of his to-do list and advanced features of his BMW X7 to get things done, mirroring the assertiveness of Deborah. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re thrilled to partner with Warner Bros. Discovery and Hacks, a show that celebrates boldness, originality, and sophistication\u2014values that align perfectly with the BMW X7,\u201d Albrecht Pagenstert, head of brand marketing at BMW of North America, said in a statement to ADWEEK. \u201cThe X7 represents a high standard of luxury and performance, making it a perfect match for a series that\u2019s defining what it means to be iconic.\u201d<\/p>\n

A 30-second version of the ad will air across WBD Stream, the company\u2019s unified digital video offering, while custom content will run on Max and BMW of North of America\u2019s social channels.<\/p>\n

A campaign that can hack it<\/strong><\/h4>\n

But when it comes to the overall marketing approach of the new season, Flax emphasized that Hacks is an important show to HBO and Max as a whole, especially as it kicks off the network\u2019s comedy offerings in the spring, with the third season of And Just Like That\u2026 and Rachel Sennott\u2019s upcoming series on the way.<\/p>\n

\u201cHacks is the type of show that as soon as you watch, you\u2019re obsessed, and you become a fan,\u201d Flax said. \u201cThe main goal of this season was to expand the tent and make sure we were getting as many Max viewers as possible into the fandom.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s a full house at HBO this spring, and the company is taking a Smart approach to its marketing. With the third season of White Lotus recently coming to an end, and The Last of Us Season 2 taking its slot for Sunday night programming, HBO is banking on a lot of its popular drama […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":192806,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12023],"tags":[13503,1305,10961,13321,9895,8402,1298,576,45720],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-192805","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-advertising","tag-campaign","tag-exclusive","tag-general","tag-hacks","tag-jean","tag-marketing","tag-season","tag-smart","tag-streaming-ott"],"yoast_head":"\nWhy Hacks' Season 4 Marketing Campaign Is So (Jean) Smart - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=192805\" \/>\n<link rel=\"next\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=192805&page=2\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why Hacks' Season 4 Marketing Campaign Is So (Jean) Smart - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It\u2019s a full house at HBO this spring, and the company is taking a Smart approach to its marketing. 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