HBO Canada Counts Down to Prohibition with 1920′s-Inspired Campaign for Boardwalk Empire

HBO Canada brings Boardwalk Empire to Toronto through an ambitious multiplatform campaign that serves up a taste of 1920s Atlantic City to downtown Toronto and the GTA through the creative use of street-level stunts, digital billboards and in-game promotion.

“HBO Canada is all about engaging subscribers with riveting premium entertainment,” said Jennifer Potts, Consumer Marketing Manager, Movie Services. “With Boardwalk Empire we’re capitalizing on the huge buzz for one of the most highly anticipated television events of the year by creating an innovative campaign with multiple entry points that will be impossible for Torontonians to ignore.”

Downtown Toronto commuters at Union Station on Tuesday morning got a taste of Atlantic City as brand ambassadors decked out in 1920s-style clothing distributed copies of The Toronto Star featuring a cover wrap and $25 acquisition rebate cards promoting the September 19^th launch of Boardwalk Empire. GTA commuters will get their chance to engage with this promotion on the morning of Thursday, September 16^th as brand ambassadors will hand out wrapped issues of The Toronto Star at 21 GO stations.

Torontonians will also be on the lookout for bootleggers driving around downtown Toronto in 1920s trucks branded with the HBO Canada and Boardwalk Empire logos, a stunt conceived in partnership with TrojanOne. These vintage cars – complete with branded wooden whiskey barrels in the back – will distribute postcards for the acquisition rebate to entice potential subscribers.

These street-level initiatives are accompanied by the innovative use of Astral’s Out-of-Home Digital Network, specifically digital boards in Toronto – and Montreal – that illustrate the “Countdown to Prohibition” through Boardwalk Empire whiskey bottles that lose liquid daily as the premiere date approaches.

Boardwalk Empire creative and trailers have also been integrated into rich media assets that will appear in Xbox’s OnDeck video carousel as well as InGame ads for a wide array of Xbox games, including Madden NFL 10, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10, Guitar Hero 5 and many more.

From Terence Winter, Emmy^® Award-winning writer of The Sopranos and Academy Award^®-winning director Martin Scorsese, the series debuts Sunday, September 19 at 9 p.m. ET/MT, day and date with HBO in the US. Set in Atlantic City, New Jersey, at the dawn of Prohibition, Boardwalk Empire centres around Enoch “Nucky” Thompson (Steve Buscemi), the town treasurer, political fixer and backroom dealer.  Equal parts politician and gangster, Nucky’s business partners included the likes of Arnold Rothstein (Michael Stuhlbarg), “Big Jim” Colosimo (Frank Crudele), “Lucky” Luciano (Vincent Piazza) and Al Capone (Stephen Graham). Using the town’s strategic location on the Eastern seaboard between Philadelphia, Chicago and New York City to his full advantage, Nucky carved out a niche for himself as the man to see for any illegal alcohol, along with his brother Elias (Shea Whigham) the town’s sheriff, and a crew of ward bosses and local thugs.

Boardwalk Empire will be simulcast on HBO Canada HD, and new episodes will be available on demand. Episodes will also be available on The Movie Network OnLine with Bell TV following their network premieres.

HBO Canada is a multiplex channel offered by Astral’s The Movie Network (Eastern Canada) and Corus Entertainment’s Movie Central (Western Canada). HBO Canada brings Canadians the current slate of signature dramatic programs for which HBO is known, together with new and never-before-seen programming including comedy series, live specials, sporting events, behind-the-scenes content and titles from HBO’s extensive library – all in an uncut and commercial-free environment. HBO Canada is offered in high definition on HBO Canada HD and programming is accessible on demand where available by service provider. For more information, please visit www.hbocanada.com.

The Movie Network is a member of the Astral family. Astral is one of Canada’s largest media companies. It operates over 100 of the country’s most popular pay and specialty television, radio, out-of-home advertising and digital media properties. Astral plays a central role in community life across the country by offering diverse, rich and vibrant programming that meets the tastes and needs of consumers and advertisers. To learn more about Astral, visit astral.com.