It's HBO: Passionate engagement, TV branding, and tourism in the postbroadcast Era

ABSTRACT

This paper contends with how postbroadcast television branding subsumes viewers’ affective interactivities with place to produce brand value. Focusing on the HBO series Treme, I argue that Treme engendered HBO's postbroadcast brand mutation by producing “passionate engagement,” where viewers were invited to interact with the show by touring New Orleans, thus adding place to online interactivity and multiscreen engagement as a means of constructing an “authentic” brand identity. The desire for viewers to connect to New Orleans’ culture is thus transformed into a vehicle for profit making for HBO and an assurance to shareholders that the brand still holds value.

KEYWORDS:

• Postbroadcast television
• branding
• interactivity
• Passionate engagement
• tourism

Notes

1. See, for example, Marc. Leverette, Brian L. Ott, and Cara Louise Buckley, It's Not TV : Watching HBO in the Post-Television Era (New York: Routledge, 2008).

2. Melissa Grego, “It's Not Just Any Network Executive,” Broadcasting & Cable 140, issue 7 (February 15, 2010): 20.

3. “HBO and the Future of Pay-TV: The Winning Streak,” The Economist, August 20, 2011, http://www.economist.com/node/21526314.

4. With regards to HBO's post-Sopranos crisis discourse about cable and network competitors, see Anthony Crupi, “75 Million AND UNDER,” MediaWeek 20, issue 19 (2010): 16; Daniel D'Addario, “Is HBO's Luck Starting to Run Out?,” The New York Observer, March 21, 2012, http://www.observer.com/2012/03/is-hbo-all-out-of-luck/ (the title of the article is referencing the HBO original program Luck aired January 2012–March 2012); Andrew Wallenstein, “EXCLUSIVE: HBO Subscribers Dwindling,” The Hollywood Reporter, September 12, 2010, http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/exclusive-hbo-subscribers-dwindling-27724. On Netflix and Hulu as new competitors in original programming, see Nellie Andreeva, “It's Official: Netflix Picks Up David Fincher–Kevin Spacey Series ‘House Of Cards’,” Deadline, March 18, 2011, http://deadline.com/2011/03/its-official-netflix-picks-up-david-fincher-kevin-spacey-series-house-of-cards-115257/; Nellie Andreeva, “Netflix Picks Up New Episodes Of ‘Arrested Development’,” Deadline, November 18, 2011, http://deadline.com/2011/11/netflix-picks-up-new-episodes-of-arrested-development-196944/; Sarah Perez, “Hulu Announces Four More Original Series, Bringing Total Lineup To Seven,” Tech Crunch, April 19, 2012, http://techcrunch.com/2012/04/19/hulu-announces-four-more-original-series-will-feature-snl-vets-adrian-grenier-of-hbos-entourage-others/; Liz Shannon Miller, “New Series The Morning After Nudges Hulu Into Production—Tech News and Analysis,” Gigaom, January 18, 2011, https://gigaom.com/2011/01/18/new-series-the-morning-after-nudges-hulu-into-production/.

5. A. Arvidsson and T. Bonini, “Valuing Audience Passions: From Smythe to Tarde,” European Journal of Cultural Studies, December 30, 2014, doi:10.1177/1367549414563297.

6. Michael Szalay, “HBO's Flexible Gold,” Representations 126, issue 1 (May 2014): 115, doi:10.1525/rep.2014.126.1.112.

7. Celia Lury, Brands : The Logos of the Global Economy (London: Routledge, 2004).

8. See, for example, M. Bourdaa, “This is Not Marketing. This is HBO: Branding HBO with Transmedia Storytelling,” Networking Knowledge 7, issue 1 (2012): 18–25, http://ojs.meccsa.org.uk/index.php/netknow/article/view/328/160; M. Jenner, “Is This TVIV? On Netflix, TVIII and Binge-Watching,” New Media & Society, July 7, 2014, doi:10.1177/1461444814541523; M. Lahey, “The Framing of Value: Television, User-Generated Content, and Interactive Involvement,” Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, December 24, 2014, doi:10.1177/1354856514563903; Henry Jenkins, Convergence Culture : Where Old and New Media Collide (New York: New York University Press, 2006); John Hartley, “Less Popular but More Democratic? Corrie, Clarkson and the Dancing Cru,” in Television Studies after TV : Understanding Television in the Post-Broadcast Era, ed. Graeme Turner and Jinna Tay (London: Routledge, 2009); Jennifer. Gillan, Television and new media : must-click TV (New York: Routledge, 2011); L. H. Edwards, “Transmedia Storytelling, Corporate Synergy, and Audience Expression,” Global Media Journal 12, issue 20 (2012); Indrek Ibrus and Carlos A. Scolari, “Transmedia Critical: Empirical Investigations into Multiplatform and Collaborative Storytelling ∼ Introduction,” International Journal of Communication 8 (2014), August 14, 2014, http://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/3102; Elizabeth Evans, Transmedia Television : Audiences, New Media, and Daily Life (New York: Routledge, 2011); Juan Piñón, “Webnovelas: Branding Interactivity in Hispanic TV,” Popular Communication 12, issue 3 (July 3, 2014): 123–38, doi:10.1080/15405702.2014.924521.

9. Treme has aired globally on a number of HBO's outlets Dave Walker, “Today in ‘Treme’: A Rising Tide Panel, Melissa Harris-Lacewell, an Australian Premiere and ‘The Wire’ Plays on DirecTV,” Nola.com/The Times-Picayune, July 16, 2010, http://www.nola.com/treme-hbo/index.ssf/2010/07/today_in_treme_a_rising_tide_p.html.

10. Nick Couldry, The Place of Media Power: Pilgrims and Witnesses of the Media Age (London: Routledge, 2001, 55).

11. Clyde Adrian Woods, “Les Misérables of New Orleans: Trap Economics and the Asset Stripping Blues, Part 1,” American Quarterly 61, issue 3 (2009): 769–96.

12. Vicki Mayer, Miranda J. Banks, and John Thornton Caldwell, Production Studies : Cultural Studies of Media Industries (New York: Routledge, 2009). See also J. T. Caldwell, “Critical Industrial Practice: Branding, Repurposing, and the Migratory Patterns of Industrial Texts,” Television & New Media 7, issue 2 (2006): 99–134, doi:10.1177/1527476403255811; John Thornton Caldwell, Production Culture : Industrial Reflexivity and Critical Practice in Film and Television (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2008); Mayer, Banks, and Caldwell, Production Studies : Cultural Studies of Media Industries; Timothy Havens, Amanda D. Lotz, and Serra Tinic, “Critical Media Industry Studies: A Research Approach,” Communication, Culture & Critique 2, issue 2 (2009): 234–53; Helen Morgan Parmett, “Media as a Spatial Practice: Treme and the Production of the Media Neighbourhood,” Continuum 28, issue 3 (May 4, 2014): 286–99, doi:10.1080/10304312.2014.900878.

13. Nitin Govil, “Recognizing ‘Industry’,” Cinema Journal 52, issue 3 (2013): 172–76, doi:10.1353/cj.2013.0019; Havens, Lotz, and Tinic, “Critical Media Industry Studies: A Research Approach.”

14. Graeme Turner and Jinna Tay, Television Studies after TV : Understanding Television in the Post-Broadcast Era (London: Routledge, 2009), 1.

15. Vicki Mayer and Tanya Goldman, “Hollywood Handouts: Tax Credits in the Age of Economic Crisis,” Jump Cut 52, issue Summer (2010); Toby Miller, Global Hollywood (London: British Film Institute, 2001); Susan Christopherson and Ned Rightor, “The Creative Economy as ‘Big Business’: Evaluating State Strategies to Lure Filmmakers,” Journal of Planning Education and Research 29, issue 3 (2010): 336–52, doi:10.1177/0739456X09354381.

16. Lynn Spigel, “Introduction,” in Television after TV : Essays on a Medium in Transition, ed. Lynn Spigel and Jan Olsson (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2004), 18.

17. D. L. Jaramillo, “The Family Racket: AOL Time Warner, HBO, The Sopranos, and the Construction of a Quality Brand,” Journal of Communication Inquiry 26, issue 1 (2002): 59–75, doi:10.1177/0196859902026001005; Amanda D. Lotz, “If It's Not TV, What Is It? The Case of US Subscription Television,” in Cable Visions : Television beyond Broadcasting, ed. Sarah Banet-Weiser, Cynthia Chris, and Anthony Freitas (New York, NY: New York University Press, 2007); Janet McCabe and Kim Akass, “It's Not TV, It's HBO's Original Programming: Producing Quality TV,” in It's Not TV : Watching HBO in the Post-Television Era, ed. Marc. Leverette, Brian L. Ott, and Cara Louise Buckley (New York: Routledge, 2008); Leverette, Ott, and Buckley, It's Not TV : Watching HBO in the Post-Television Era.

18. Marc Berman, “HBO's Midlife Crisis,” MediaWeek, June 12, 2006. See also A. J. Frutkin, “Lazy Summer for HBO,” MediaWeek 18, issue 14 (07 2008): 10.

19. Crupi, “75 Million AND UNDER.”

20. Wallenstein, “EXCLUSIVE: HBO Subscribers Dwindling.” Reports also showed that this was HBO's fourth consecutive quarter of decline in subscribers. See Wallenstein, “Netflix Narrows Subscriber Gap With HBO—Tech News and Analysis.”

21. D'Addario, “Is HBO's Luck Starting to Run Out?” The title of the article is referencing the HBO original program Luck (aired January 2012–March 2012), suggesting it was quintessential HBO—ensemble cast and creative auteur showrunner—and its demise therefore demonstrated how its usual algorithms for success were losing traction.

22. Kelso, “And Now No Word from Our Sponsor: How HBO Puts the Risk Back into Television.” At the time, AMC was gaining critical acclaim with programs like Breaking Bad (AMC, 2008–2013) and Mad Men (AMC, 2007–), and it had just picked up The Walking Dead, which would go on to garner some of the highest TV ratings ever (Michael O'Connell, “‘The Walking Dead’ Sets Another Ratings Record,” The Hollywood Reporter, October 13, 2014, http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/walking-dead-sets-ratings-record-740324.) FX was finishing up its critically acclaimed series Nip Tuck (FX, 2003–2010) and would soon pick up the acclaimed series Justified (FX, 2010–2015) and American Horror Story (FX, 2011–).

23. Andreeva, “It's Official: Netflix Picks Up David Fincher–Kevin Spacey Series ‘House Of Cards’”; Miller, “New Series The Morning After Nudges Hulu Into Production—Tech News and Analysis.”

24. Jenner, “Is This TVIV?,” 4, 7.

25. Andrew Wallenstein, “Netflix Narrows Subscriber Gap With HBO—Tech News and Analysis,” Gigaom, March 11, 2011, https://gigaom.com/2011/03/11/419-netflix-narrows-subscriber-gap-with-hbo/.

26. Jeanine Poggi, “Netflix's Quiet Launch of Network-Branded Pages Could Complicate Stance,” Advertising Age 83, issue 11 (March 12, 2012): 4; Ben Grossman, Jon Lafayette, and Andrea Morabito, “So What Are You Supposed to Make of NETFLIX?,” Broadcasting & Cable 141, issue 25 (June 20, 2011): 14–15; Mike Shields, “Netflix Unbound.,” MediaWeek 20, issue 41 (November 15, 2010): 4; “The Netflix Effect.,” Broadcasting & Cable, March 21, 2011, ufh; “Netflix: Measuring Up.,” Broadcasting & Cable 142, issue 29 (July 23, 2012): 14a; “Syndicators Optimistic About On-Demand Services.,” Broadcasting & Cable 141, issue 18 (May 2, 2011): 20; Jon Lafayette, “Dealing With the Devil?,” Broadcasting & Cable 141, issue 43 (November 14, 2011): 8–8; Matt Carmichael, “Consumers Aren't so Keen on Cutting Cord After All, Survey Finds,” Advertising Age 82, issue 16 (April 18, 2011): 6.

27. Melissa Grego, “Programmers: It's Time To Go Big, or Go Home,” Broadcasting & Cable 142, issue 1 (January 2, 2012): 20.

28. Negri, “Value and Affect.”

29. Brett Gold, “HBO Renews ‘Treme’ for Final Run ahead of Tonight's Season Premiere—New York Pop Culture,” Examiner.com, September 23, 2012, http://www.examiner.com/article/hbo-renews-treme-for-final-run-ahead-of-tonight-s-season-premiere. In the article, Gold calls HBO's announcement that they would renew HBO for a fourth season “unprecedented” and “shocking.”

30. Creators of HBO's ‘Treme’ Share the Art of Building Audience, Community at the CTAM Summit,” PR Web, August 25, 2010, http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010/08/prweb4427594.htm

31. David Simon et al., “Treme: The Art of Building Audience and a Community” (presented at the Cable Television and Marketing Summit, Hilton Riverside Hotel, New Orleans, October 19, 2010).

32. The term “passionate engagement” can be found within a range of media studies scholarship as well, often associated with fandom and fan cultures. This literature associates “passionate engagement” within the context of excess, potential forms of counterhegemonic resistance, and the authentic expression of the artist. See, for example, A. Hill, “Spectacle of Excess: The Passion Work of Professional Wrestlers, Fans and Anti-Fans,” European Journal of Cultural Studies, December 23, 2014, doi:10.1177/1367549414563300; A. McCosker, “Trolling as Provocation: YouTube's Agonistic Publics,” Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies 20, issue 2 (May 1, 2014): 201–17, doi:10.1177/1354856513501413.). I argue it is precisely this sense of the authentic engagement of the fan or artist, and productive potentiality they create, that the industry seeks to capture.

33. See Matthew Belloni and Lacey Rose, “TV Executive Roundtable: AMC Chief Defends ‘Drama’ Around Matthew Weiner, ‘Mad Men’ Negotiations (Video)—The Hollywood Reporter,” The Hollywood Reporter, August 4, 2011, http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/amc-chief-sets-record-straight-218830; Anna Carugati, “Exclusive Interview: HBO's Richard Plepler & Michael Lombardo,” World Screen.com, February 27, 2012, http://worldscreen.com/articles/display/2012-2-27-hbo-plepler-lombardo.

34. See, for example, Anthony Iannarino, “The 11th Attribute: Passionate Engagement—The Sales Blog,” Iannarino, March 13, 2010, http://thesalesblog.com/blog/2010/03/13/the-11th-attribute-passionate-engagement/; N. Bendapudi and V. Bendapudi, “Creating the Living Brand,” Harvard Business Review, May 2005, 83(5): 124–6, 128–32, 154; Rob Fuggetta, “Brand Advocates Turning Enthusiastic Customers into a Powerful Marketing Force,” 2012, http://www.123library.org/book_details/?id=54083.

35. Jenkins, Convergence Culture : Where Old and New Media Collide, 20; Gavin Poynter and Iain MacRury, Olympic Cities : 2012 and the Remaking of London (Farnham, UK: Ashgate, 2009).

36. Maurizio Lazzarato, “Immaterial Labor,” in Radical Thought in Italy : A Potential Politics, ed. Paolo Virno and Michael Hardt (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1996), 142.

37. Adam Arvidsson, “Brands,” Journal of Consumer Culture 5, issue 2 (2005): 235–58.

38. Michael Curtin, “Matrix Media,” in Television Studies after TV : Understanding Television in the Post-Broadcast Era, ed. Graeme Turner and Jinna Tay (London: Routledge, 2009), 13.

39. Lahey, “The Framing of Value,” 1.

40. Gillan, Television and New Media : Must-Click TV.

41. D. L. Jaramillo, “AMC: Stumbling toward a New Television Canon,” Television & New Media 14, issue 2 (March 1, 2013): 167–83, doi:10.1177/1527476412442105.

42. Jenkins, Convergence Culture : Where Old and New Media Collide.

43. Ibid.

44. Andrejevic, “The Work that Affective Economics Does.”

45. Arvidsson and Bonini, “Valuing Audience Passions,” 2.

46. Ibid., 6.

47. Sarah Banet-Weiser, Authentic TM : The Politics of Ambivalence in a Brand Culture (New York: New York University Press, 2012), 8.

48. Simon et al., “Treme: The Art of Building Audience and a Community.”

49. Ibid.

50. L. L. Thomas, “‘People Want to See What Happened’: Treme, Televisual Tourism, and the Racial Remapping of Post-Katrina New Orleans,” Television & New Media 13, issue 3 (January 31, 2012): 213–24, doi:10.1177/1527476411433889; Rathke, “Treme for Tourists.”

51. Treme. “Meet De Boys on the Battlefront.” Season 1, Episode 2. Directed by Jim McKay. Written by David Simon and Eric Overmyer. HBO, April 18, 2010.

52. Treme. “Knock with Me-Rock with Me.” Season 3, Episode 1. Directed by Anthony Hemingway. Written by David Simon and Anthony Bourdain.

53. Treme. “Right Place, Wrong Time.” Season 1, Episode 3. Directed by Ernest Dickerson. Written by David Simon and David Mills.

54. Simon et al., “Treme: The Art of Building Audience and a Community.”

55. Lolis Eric Elie, “The Vietnamese Fishing Community in New Orleans,” Blog, HBO: Inside Treme Blog (July 7, 2011), http://www.inside-treme-blog.com/home/2011/7/7/the-vietnamese-fishing-community-in-new-orleans.html.

56. Lolis Eric Elie, “Playing Oliver Thomas,” Blog, HBO: Inside Treme Blog (July 5, 2011), http://www.inside-treme-blog.com/home/2011/7/5/playing-oliver-thomas.html?cmpid=ABC184.

57. Lolis Eric Elie, “John McCusker and His Real-Life Musical Heritage Tours,” HBO: Inside Treme Blog, October 22, 2012, http://www.inside-treme-blog.com/home/2012/10/22/john-mccusker-and-his-real-life-musical-heritage-tours.html.

58. Lyndsey Beaulieu, “McAlary's Music Mission on Rampart St.,” HBO: Inside Treme Blog, December 26, 2013, http://www.inside-treme-blog.com/home/2013/12/26/mcalarys-music-mission-on-rampart-st.html.

59. New Orleans Convention and Visitor's Bureau, “Tremé Neighborhood,” New Orleans Convention and Visitor's Bureau, 2012, http://www.neworleanscvb.com/visit/neighborhoods/treme/.

60. Examples include tours offered by the Preservation Resource Center and the New Orleans African American Museum, Historic New Orleans Tours, New Orleans Movie Tours, and viewer/intermediary inspired walking tours such as those published by The Gaurdian. “Historic New Orleans Tours: Treme Tour,” Historic New Orleans Tours, accessed February 14, 2015, http://www.tourneworleans.com/treme_set.html; Catherine Shoard, “Blowing Treme's Trumpet,” The Guardian, December 31, 2010, http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2011/jan/01/new-orleans-treme-television; “Tour Offers Glimpse of New Orleans Movie Sites,” Newspaper, Richmond Times-Dispatch (April 1, 2012), http://www2.timesdispatch.com/entertainment/2012/apr/01/tdflair10-tour-offers-glimpse-of-new-orleans-movie-ar-1801680/; Chris Waddington, “African American Museum Unveils Treme Neighborhood Tours,” The Times Picayune/nola.com, April 29, 2011, http://www.nola.com/arts/index.ssf/2011/04/post_55.html.

61. The A.V. Club, “New Orleans: We Visit Locations from David ‘The Wire’ Simon's Jazz-Heavy HBO Series Treme,” Pop Pilgrims/The A.V. Club, accessed April 20, 2012, http://www.avclub.com/articles/new-orleans-we-visit-locations-from-david-the-wire,57211/.

62. Eric Overmyer (Executive Producer and Creator) in discussion with the author, March 15, 2011.

63. Celia Lury, Brands : The Logos of the Global Economy (New York: New York : Routledge, 2004).

64. Miriam Greenberg, Branding New York: How a City in Crisis Was Sold to the World (New York: Routledge, 2008), 35–36.

65. Eric Overmyer (Executive Producer and Creator), for example, in our March 15, 2011 interview, cited an example of a group of tourists from Cleveland meeting Wendell Pierce, who had said they had never been to nor planned to go to New Orleans until they saw the show. This anecdote was also mentioned during the CTAM Summit panel as well as in media interviews with producers (see, for example, Ramon Antonio Vargas, “Wendell Pierce Spotted at New Orleans Jazz Fest, Discusses Rise in Celebrity,” Nola.com/The Times-Picayune, April 23, 2010, http://www.nola.com/jazzfest/index.ssf/2010/04/wendell-pierce_interview.html.). The prevalence of this anecdote suggests that it was mobilized to justify Treme’s value within HBO and to the city of New Orleans.

66. Ann Cutler, “New Orleans Film Industry Draws Tinseltown Tourists—Film New Orleans,” Film New Orleans: Mayor's Office of Cultural Economy, April 7, 2011, http://www.filmneworleans.org/2011/uncategorized/new-orleans-film-industry-draws-tinseltown-tourists/.

67. Matt Brennan, “Louisiana Film Tax Credits: A Real Catch-22,” Gambit, December 22, 2014, http://www.bestofneworleans.com/gambit/louisiana-film-tax-credits-a-real-catch-22/Content?oid=2549505; Mike Scott, “The Inconvenience of HBO ‘Treme’ Film Crews in Neighborhoods Is a Price Worth Paying,” Nola.com/The Times-Picayune, March 24, 2010, http://www.nola.com/movies/index.ssf/2010/03/the_inconvenience_of_film_crew.html.

68. Eric Overmyer (Executive Producer and Creator) in discussion with the author March 15, 2011.

69. Mayer and Goldman, “Hollywood Handouts: Tax Credits in the Age of Economic Crisis.”

70. Tim Mathis, “Louisiana Film Tax Credits: Costly Giveaways to Hollywood,” Louisiana Budget Project, August, 2012, http://www.labudget.org/lbp/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/LBP-Report.Louisiana-Film-Tax-Credits.pdf.

71. Sylvester Francis (owner of the Backstreet Cultural Museum) in discussion with the author, March 23, 2014.

72. Arlene M. Dávila, Culture Works: Space, Value, and Mobility across the Neoliberal Americas (New York: New York University Press, 2012), Kindle edition, Chapter 3, Section: “The Race of Value. 1528–32.

73. Woods, “Les Misérables of New Orleans: Trap Economics and the Asset Stripping Blues, Part 1,” 775.

74. Ibid., 775–76.

75. Sharon. Zukin, Naked City : The Death and Life of Authentic Urban Places (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010), 27.

76. Simon et al., “Treme: The Art of Building Audience and a Community.”

77. Even 10+ years after filming wrapped for Sex in the City, tours featuring the show's sights and sounds like this one (“Sex and the City Hotspots Tour NYC | Sex and the City Tour New York : On Location Tours,” accessed February 13, 2015, http://onlocationtours.com/tour/sex-and-the-city/) continue to remain popular.

78. Abbie Fentress Swanson, “Map | Where to Find the ‘Girls’ in NYC—WNYC,” WNYC, June 11, 2012, http://www.wnyc.org/story/215288-girls-mapped/; Jordan Valinsky, “HBO's ‘Girls’ Gets Google Mapped,” The Daily Dot, June 11, 2012, http://www.dailydot.com/entertainment/hbo-girls-shooting-locations-google-map/.

79. Jessica Mericle, “Mapping HBO's Looking Locations Across San Francisco—Curbed Maps—Curbed SF,” Curbed, March 10, 2014, http://sf.curbed.com/archives/2014/03/10/mapping_hbos_looking_locations_across_san_francisco.php.

80. Ibid.

81. Natalie Paris, “Game of Thrones Filming Locations and Holidays—Telegraph,” The Telegraph (London), April 7, 2014, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/10026325/Game-of-Thrones-filming-locations-and-holidays.html.