The White Lotus returns this weekend—and brands want in on the vacation.
Ahead of the Season 3 premiere on February 16, nearly a dozen brands have been promoting the HBO hit series. Brands like the luggage company Away, Abercrombie & Fitch, Banana Republic, Bloomingdale’s, and Coffee mate are creating licensed, White Lotus-themed products.
American Express, meanwhile, is offering its cardmembers access to White Lotus-themed events for the first time this year, including two wellness retreats at Four Seasons hotels in California as well as in Thailand at the primary location for the new season. Diageo, Google Pixel, Supergoop, Kiehl’s, and CB2 will feature their products as part of the retreats.
“The White Lotus is a marketer’s dream,” Andrew Meengern, VP of HBO and Max Originals marketing, told Marketing Brew. “It’s one of those very rare opportunities where [brand] interest has grown season over season dramatically.”
Cue the theme song: Brand interest in The White Lotus has, perhaps unsurprisingly, a lot to do with viewer interest and conversation about the series, Meengern said. The Season 2 finale in December 2022 attracted 4.1 million viewers across all platforms, a series high, while its second season as a whole attracted an average of 10 million viewers per episode—50% more than its Season 1 viewership.
For brands looking to cut through the clutter, it presents a unique opportunity.
“Media consumption is more fragmented than ever, and so it creates this challenge of needing to continue to innovate in order to connect with our target audiences where they are most engaged and attentive,” Jill Hamilton, VP of global media at American Express, told us. “These types of programs enable us to do just that.”
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