HBO’s The Penguin

September 2024 - Designed and Produced by Matte Projects: Senior Experiential Producer

A true Gotham aka NYC takeover: kingpin partnerships, a 98th annual festival and a traveling purple maserati… the only way to introduce HBO’s The Penguin. Creating an unforgettable series of stunts over the course of 2 and a half weeks, The Penguin’s power garnered an estimated 761k views and almost 4,000 engagements.

Kicking off the antics was 2 CGI short videos premiering on The Batman’s Instagram - The Penguin’s arch nemesis.

Sparking anticipation for what came next, limited drops peppered the city streets surprising consumers on where to run to. Seizing eight curb lanes throughout six days, the “Gotham Goods” truck pulled up and passed out custom merch through a partnership with OnlyNY when HBOmax subscribers said The Penguin’s code phrase that was shared on social media earlier that day. The truck saw 620+ people over the first two days assembling lines around the block and distributing the specialty goods to more than a person a minute.

To be “in” with Oz (The Penguin), you have to know his pals. HBO partnered with five of New York’s notorious personalities to host in-house takeovers where each location like Scarr’s Pizza and The Ocky Way’s deli was transformed into a piece of Oz’s kingdom. Consumers could visit for one-of-a-kind menu items only available for those few days. Between a 40 person invite-only influencer dinner at Emilio’s Ballato to New York Nico’s hot takes and Soho’s renowned Casa Magazine’s “Gotham Gazette” drop, the reach of The Penguin could not be stopped.

His final beckon hit close to home at the 98th annual San Gennaro Festival in Little Italy. A Gotham Goods booth on Grand Street propped out with red pallets, custom black boxes and the actual purple Maserati from the show culminated the underground schtick. During the two week festival, daily activations kept customers coming back! Oz’s favorite treat, Slush Puppie, gave out cherry slushies while the Cannoli King shared rare purple cream cannoli’s. Emilio Vitolo of Emilio’s Ballato passed out his Penguin Puttanesca and Scarr from Scarr’s pizza sliced up his custom created black garlic, white sauce and beef pep slices. Each day The Penguin’s biggest fans showed up in troves trying to get their hands on Gotham’s limited tees and to see what else Oz had in store for them.

Each thrilling orchestration of The Penguins' presence at every turn caused far beyond NYC to engage with the campaign. The hype accumulated over 85 pieces of press, 3.79k engagements and ultimately aided viewership of the premiere.

Press - Comic Book, TV Insider, BizBash

Photos by Alex S.K. Brown