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When it comes to content, “waiting is no longer an option”, says Buenos Aires, Argentina-based Superestudio. “Immediacy is expected by everybody.”
It was this sense of urgency that Superestudio injected into its rebrand for HBO Plus, the younger linear sibling of HBO Latin America.
“The main ask was to rebrand [HBO Plus] with a fresh, modern and young style. But It was also paramount to convey the evolution of the channel, linking it to the digital world and function of the HBO Go app,” said Ezequiel Rormoser, executive and general creative director, Superestudio, in an email interview.
“Within the new HBO+, the communication is only based in what’s coming up next,” he continued. “Today’s consumers see content, choose content, experience content on the spot. So we created an animation device called ‘the calendar,’ where ‘now’ is always highlighted. No past, no future, only the present is what matters.”
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Superestudio didn’t have to convey just a youthful vibe, but also a premium one — two concepts that don’t always stand side by side.
To accomplish that, Superestudio approached the rebrand from several angles.
Everything about the HBO Plus rebrand is bold — especially the purple, orange and white palette — but it’s also clean and simple, from the font to the animation.
“To work on a young HBO brand was a great challenge,” said Rormoser. “We wanted to be different from the HBO LATAM mother brand, and to be young and premium, so we created a vibrant and unique color palette. Combining orange, purple, blue and white, we felt we had a good amount of modernity, vibrancy and contrast for this kind of brand.”
Color palette chosen, Superestudio then applied those choices to a simple yet elegant animated approach.
“We combined a two-dimensional modern, simple and fresh design with premium three-dimensional logo close ups. With fast editing and smooth animation, we switched from 2D to 3D constantly, creating a premium and young style. Vibrant, colorful solids and super-sharp graphics combine for a youthful, pulsing look.”
Superestudio also tweaked HBO Plus’ logo, incorporating the plus sign in between the two words (HBO and Plus) and highlighting the symbol in a contrasting color. Eventually, the word “plus” will depart the network’s branding altogether.
“The + is a really strong point of the brand so we needed it to be part of the branding,” said Rormoser. “The + highlights the ‘now’ and drives all the communication, the animation and the design. We felt that [the word] ‘plus’ was part of the old banding, and it needed to be refreshed. So we created a logo animation that goes from plus to + as a transition to the future where is going to be only +.”
Finally, HBO Plus recruited Mexico’s Studios Pararrayos to create custom music (not the same music that can be heard in the above video) and a sonic brand for the channel, with which HBO Plus says it’s very happy. “We recommend them 100%,” said Jesus Martinez, director, on-air and digital design, HBO Latin America/Networks.
Overall, Martinez said that Superestudio “captured the essence of the project with a clean and elegant style. The combination of the typography, color palette and animations gives the channel’s new look the boost it needs. We are very happy with the results and what’s more important, it is working.”