HBO’s multicultural marketing team is tasked with establishing culturally relevant connections with our diverse audiences. Similarly, ComplexCon has emerged as a cultural tentpole, attracting those creating and driving trends in fashion, music, and all things culture. We identified ComplexCon as an ideal place for us to deepen our connection with consumers, and elevate our brand by amplifying our programming via brand activation. With this being our first time at ComplexCon, we sought to develop an activation space that would allow us to not only authentically show up, but also stand out amongst other major brands in attendance. Our focus was on driving both consumer interactions, as well as earned media impressions.

As seen in HBO’s The Shop, the barbershop is a cultural pillar in many communities of color-

especially amongst the African-American community. It’s a place of respite. A place for candid

conversations spanning music, fashion, sports, and current socio-political happenings. In the

barbershop, people leave not only with a boost of self-confidence, but also a renewed sense of

connection to one’s community. We wanted to pay homage to this cultural mainstay and delight

both consumers and influencers with an immersive, culturally-accurate recreation of a traditional

barbershop experience–one that would be familiar to many of the 60,000+ ComplexCon attendees.

The conversations on HBO's The Shop cover various topics from fashion and music trends, to our country's current political climate and the traditions held close to the African American community. At an event like ComplexCon where the latest trends are celebrated, we wanted to bring a timeless experience that bridged tradition with current cultural trends, while creating a familiar sense of community for consumers. With ComplexCon being a haven for cultural trailblazers of our time, the activation allowed us to connect with the core African American millennial audience both via the pop up and social media, giving them an experience unlike any other in the ComplexCon space.

HBO brought LeBron James' "The Shop" to ComplexCon 2018 and its 60,000 attendees. The activation featured a top-to-bottom custom fabrication of a 30'x30' barbershop, complete with functioning barbers' stations, sneaker cleaning stations by SneakerLab, DJ programming all weekend long, and authentic decor elements throughout. In partnership with Bevel and their team of celebrity barbers, 140 ComplexCon attendees received complimentary custom cuts. The activation also boasted 18,000 exclusive premium giveaways from Pin Trill, Nike, Bevel, and SneakerLab.

On-site, we enlisted the help of comedian-influencers Shiggy and Juhahn Jones to go out into

the ComplexCon crowd giving attendees free branded items and encouraging them to come check

out what the barbershop popup had to offer. Ensuring that the visibility reached far beyond the

on-site ComplexCon crowd, HBO partnered with a crew of digital influencers to bring authentic

coverage to the social space.

30,000 ComplexCon attendees (~50% of total attendees) stopped by throughout the weekend, as well as a number of celebrity guests for custom cuts and barbershop conversations. Notable visitors included Nas, BigBoy, Tinashe, Victor Cruz, Pusha T, Grant Hill, Young Dirty Bastard, BJ the Chicago Kid, and Demetrius Shipp Jr. to name a few. Live-feed A/V footage allowed passersby to witness the conversations on screen right outside of the space, further amplifying the conversation beyond the barbershop walls. The activation resulted in 165 hashtagged posts, delivering over 9.7MM impressions for The Shop. Touted by Complex and attendees as one of the most impressive activations on-site, we garnered attention from 17 press outlets such as Baller Status,Hip Hop DX, Blavity, and ESPN's Undefeated and earned over 67 million unique impressions.