Why Hacks’ Season 4 Marketing Campaign Is So (Jean) Smart

It’s 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 franchises to generate attention in the months ahead—but the network doesn’t want you to forget about its half-hour comedies either.

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’s Deborah Vance.

Dana Flax, vp of originals marketing at HBO and Max, noted that this year’s goal was to build on recent momentum, especially in the wake of the show’s win for Outstanding Comedy Series at the Emmys last year.

“It’s relatively rare for us to see a show, particularly a comedy, entering its fourth season as a real audience growth opportunity,” Flax told ADWEEK. “That’s 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.”

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%.

Placing Deborah Vance’s presence everywhere

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.

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’s 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.

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’s character.

“You have more billboards around than an actual late-night talk show,” Kimmel joked.

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.

“Another woman in late-night? Come on,” Handler jokingly says in the video.

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 “facing staffing issues” on her new late-night talk show.

Additionally, there were fictional Late Night with Deborah Vance “sponsored” 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 “poach” some of the top talent in entertainment by sending cocktail kits and DIY-style “resignation letters” to fellow comedians and late-night hosts, encouraging them to call Deborah Vance when they’re ready to “shake things up.”

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—complete 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.

“This was the perfect opportunity to reach out to younger, queer audiences who were there for Lady Gaga,” Flax said.

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.

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.

“We had a colleague go to the Culver City location at 8:30 in the morning on the premiere, and she said she couldn’t find them because they were all gone,” Flax said. “So that was pretty epic and a super fun way to celebrate the show.”

BMW rolls with Deborah

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’s assistant in the series. According to the company, the partnership is supposed to “playfully” highlight the features and connectivity of BMW vehicles.

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.

“We’re thrilled to partner with Warner Bros. Discovery and Hacks, a show that celebrates boldness, originality, and sophistication—values that align perfectly with the BMW X7,” Albrecht Pagenstert, head of brand marketing at BMW of North America, said in a statement to ADWEEK. “The X7 represents a high standard of luxury and performance, making it a perfect match for a series that’s defining what it means to be iconic.”

A 30-second version of the ad will air across WBD Stream, the company’s unified digital video offering, while custom content will run on Max and BMW of North of America’s social channels.

A campaign that can hack it

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’s comedy offerings in the spring, with the third season of And Just Like That… and Rachel Sennott’s upcoming series on the way.

“Hacks is the type of show that as soon as you watch, you’re obsessed, and you become a fan,” Flax said. “The 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.”