HBOMax/Max Rebrand

While a lot of people were up in arms about HBO Max rebranding to Max, I wasn’t one of them. I mostly just feel bad for HBO.

No doubt the word “Max” doesn’t hold nearly as much equity or penache as “HBO”. In fact, the name Max is technically derived from its sister channel Cinemax — a channel that will forever be nicknamed “Skin-e-max” due to its association with late-night soft core porn in the 80s and 90s. However, it could be safe to assume that most don’t equate “Max” to “Cinemax”, the name may just communicate “maximum” content to the majority of consumers, especially younger people looking to get more bang for their buck.

Also, given Discovery’s acquisition of Warner and the streaming industry’s toward content library consolidation, this rebrand makes perfect sense operationally and in terms of brand architecture. Why wouldn’t Warner Discovery want all of their content under one roof? Sounds smart to me. Plus, moving Warner Discovery to a house of brands model with HBO being top of their brand totem pole above CNN, Discovery, etc feels logical.

However, that logic starts to break down when it comes to the actual experience. This where I have criticisms. I get Warner Discovery’s need to appeal to a more mainstream audience, specifically fly-over states, but damn, the vibe that this insanely diverse mix of brands content makes feels jarring and cluttered. Treating all of their brands the same and with no clear hierarchy creates a homogenized clusterfuck and a poor experience. HBO is now just another tile in the app and a visual nod in the logo. It’s no longer as special, which is a bummer.

What makes sense as a business decision doesn’t always translate into a good consumer experience. While more is more often sounds good on paper and feels good on the wallet, from a creative point of view less is more is typiclally the more effective branding move in the long run.