Special Leverages “Last-Mover Advantage” and “Meme-Style Films” to Continue Max’s Aussie Launch

“To launch a global brand in a saturated Australian market, we had to respect what the audience was telling us,” Sasha Mackie, senior director marketing ANZ at Warner Bros. Discovery, told LBB about bringing Max down under.

Max is now operating in over 70 countries across LATAM, EMEA, and APAC, and the Warner Bros. Discovery team has pinpointed Australia as a “key market as part of our global expansion”.

Despite the Australian streaming market being packed with major players, Sasha said Max has entered the scene with a confidence that “comes from having iconic brands and some of the world’s best storytellers behind us.”

“We also have a last-mover advantage – we’ve had the chance to watch, learn, and now arrive with something better. There’s ambition behind Max. And more importantly, there’s real belief in what we’re offering.”

The ‘All Killer, No Filler’ platform was created by Special Australia, born from the insight that Australians feel oversubscribed and overwhelmed by the number of streaming services in the market.

“We wanted to create a campaign that had a point of view,” said Sian Binder and Lea Egan, Special’s group creative directors, “that wasn’t just another hype reel.

“The insight around filler content was the thing we decided to focus on. There are so many shows these days that are created to just fill space. HBO and Warner Bros. have always been known for their highly-crafted and well-scripted shows and movies. The kind that gets people talking. Not just filler. We liked the idea that Australia was finally going to be able to escape the filler content with Max.”

The latest iteration of the ‘All Killer, No Filler’ platform is a series called 'Max vs Other Streaming Services,’ which takes clips of iconic moments from shows hosted on the streamer and positions Max as, for example, Barbie, whilst other streamers are just Ken.

“We wanted to come in punchy,” Sian and Lea said. “We loved the idea of creating ads that didn’t look like ads, but were more meme-style films that played with the content the way fans love to do. We were so lucky that the clients loved this idea so much, from the very first pitch presentation, and then backed it all the way through. It’s one of those campaigns that as soon as you see it you can’t help but try and think of the next one. It’s such a treat to create work like that.”

Sasha agrees the team has “loved the memes from day one” and this element of the launch campaign “is really Max taking on the category with a healthy dose of Aussie humour and a cheeky wink.”

“We wanted viewers to not only recognise Max as new, but to instantly connect it with our killer content lineup – and wrap it all in a tone that feels uniquely Australian. It’s fun, cheeky, and self-aware – striking the balance between confidence and not taking ourselves too seriously. Ultimately, we wanted people to feel like Max gets them.”

Of course, picking the best moments to meme required a movie night or two, with Sian and Lea laughing, “We all had to watch endless hours of HBO shows and WBD movies to come up with each spot in the series. It was hard to pick with so many good shows but we think the team really found the best moments.”

The campaign is as funny as it is bold, directly labelling other streaming services as villages being burnt by dragons from ‘Game of Thrones’ or the constantly overruled siblings of ‘Succession’. Despite this, Sasha said it was “never about calling out the competition – it was about holding up a mirror to the streaming category.”

“The market is saturated, and audiences have been vocal about not wanting just another streamer. But our research showed us what they do want – a better one.”

Sasha wants the ‘All Killer, No Filler’ platform to position Max as “the person you'd want to hang with at a party. The one with a sharp insight on pop culture and a quick wit to match.”

“We wanted our brand to be as entertaining as the product itself and leave viewers feeling a bit closer to the brand by inviting them into a light hearted and cheeky conversation, rather than educating about features and selling points.”

The platformed launched last month with a 30" spot following a man wading through a packing peanut desert.