For viewers on this side of the Atlantic, HBO Original’s The White Lotus, which kicked off its third season on Sky last week after a two-year hiatus, is a lush drama that revels in a darkly comic skewering of the ultrarich.
For US consumers who watch the series streamed on Max it’s all that – but also a window into how a high-end TV drama can tap the marketing budgets of prestige brands in ways more usually seen in blockbuster movies.
With its extensive brand collaborations and multi-category merchandising deals, it’s a shift from off-the-peg TV sponsorship to carefully curated and immersive partnerships.
For the new series of Mike White’s Emmy-winning drama, American Express came on board and as well as ad break commercials surrounding the show, there’s a range of specially created content including behind-the-scenes vignettes aired on Max and delivered on social channels and on HBO’s show page. Videos feature cast interviews, clips and deep dives into the main characters' back stories.
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Google is another key sponsor with Max viewers served up an eight-part miniseries showcasing how the Gemini AI assistant on its Pixel phone works for world travellers. It is presented by Evan Ross Katz, host of The White Lotus Official Podcast – another marketing opportunity – who is joined by season three actor and Gen Z magnet, Nicholas Duvernay.
The American Express sponsorship spills out from the screen into real life with the company hosting a range of cardholder events and promotions.
These include offering its upper-tier customers access to White Lotus-themed wellness retreats in California and Thailand (the location of series three). There are travel guidebooks for Thailand as well as Hawaii and Sicily (nods to series one and two) under the Amex Travel brand.
Those wellness retreats take place in – where else – Four Seasons properties.
Its Maui hotel was the setting for the fictional White Lotus resort in season one where filming took place during Covid. Season two was set at the Four Seasons San Domenico Palace in Sicily’s Taormina and the new run was filmed mostly at the spectacularly luxurious Four Seasons on Koh Samui.
The impact on the hotel brand was immediate with the chain reporting a 425 per cent increase in visits to the website of its Hawaiian resort, an understandable reaction for locked-down viewers who could only fantasise about travelling.
By season two, the White Lotus effect had truly kicked in; the Sicilian hotel was booked out for six months after its reopening following filming and now its chosen setting knows what to expect. To leverage the buzz around the new location, Finnair has already expanded its flight services to Thailand.
The Four Seasons’ own monthly brand-tracking data showed that 71 per cent of respondents who were viewers of the drama said they intended visiting one of its properties – even though the resorts are not named in the series.
The irony in this of course is that at its core, the drama satirises the hotel guests, presenting its cast of privileged Americans as mostly loud-mouthed philistines with more money than class, while the hardworking local staff have a knowing disregard for the swaggering ultrarich.
There’s that and the repeated story arc that from the first scene signals that something dreadful has happened to a holidaymaker.
Season one opened with a coffin on a plane; season two with a guest discovering a body in the sea, while last week’s ominous scene-setter featured gunfire in the resort and a dead body floating among the lily pads outside the spa.
It shouldn’t, in classic PR theory, make viewers reach for their credit card and a booking site, but it does.
The hotel chain has moved to formalise its relationship with the HBO drama – hence the American Express-backed wellness retreats but also screenings in its hotels around the world, themed wellness packages, as well as menus and cocktails inspired by the show. It is difficult to see an aspect of the series sponsorship that hasn’t been mined.
Audiences are building. The season two finale in December 2022 attracted just more than four million viewers across all platforms and viewership across season two was 50 per cent more than season one.
Of course, only a fraction of the viewers will ever check into these hotels but that doesn’t mean they can’t wear the T-shirt – and more.
The range of White Lotus-themed merchandise is the sort usually associated with blockbuster movies.
Among the items emblazoned with the fictional resort’s lotus logo available directly from HBO are fluffy white bathrobes and slippers, totes, cocktail glasses, sweatshirts and mugs.
Brands that have signed partnerships deals with HBO include Abercrombie & Fitch, Away luggage (some of the guest carried it in the first two seasons but now there’s a themed range for sale); Diageo’s Ketel One vodka, Kiehl’s skincare and Supergoop’s suntan lotion range.
High-street fashion retailer H&M is releasing a White Lotus-inspired 25-piece collection, designed in collaboration with the show’s costume designer Alex Bovaird.
“We always have this little catchphrase on the show: nothing’s too much for The White Lotus!” he says of the collection which features crocheted hot pants and billowing kaftans with lotus flower patterns and tropical colours.
“We’re inviting fans to go beyond watching The White Lotus and truly experience it,” Pia Barlow, executive vice-president, Originals marketing, HBO and Max has explained. “By partnering with iconic brands and creating unique experiences, we’re extending the luxury within the series into real life – making The White Lotus something fans can indulge in.”
