Discovery’s CMO revealed how HBO plan to shift loyalty of its users to the new brand Max.
HBO Max and Discovery+ are merging to create a new streaming service called Max, which has been a topic of discussion in Hollywood for several months. As we know that the HBO Max will be transforming into Max by 23rd May, now the WB Discovery marketing team is responsible to get the word out.
Pato Spagnoletto, global chief marketing officer of direct-to-consumer at Warner Bros. Discovery, and his team have a month to educate audiences on why the new streaming service, Max, is dropping “HBO” from its name and what it will offer. Max promises more personalized recommendations, better positioning of kids’ content, and new original content, including a series adapting one book from J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter” series each season.
In an interview with Variety, Spagnoletto revealed his strategy to market the new name. When asked about how the company was approaching the marketing of “Max”, considering it is a commonly used word that is difficult to “own”. He responded that they recognized the potential challenge of the name being too generic and conducted extensive research to understand its use both inside and outside their industry. They then assessed whether they could truly make the name their own, and concluded that they could as no other company had a full grasp on it. They believed they had the necessary elements to create a fully ownable brand, including the name, visual design, and positioning, and were investing in the brand accordingly.
