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2020 ADC Awards - Advertising

His Dark Materials "Personal Daemons"

Agency 360i / New York + HBO / New York

Client HBO
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Annual ID

ADC_ADV20_091M

About the Work

HBO’s His Dark Materials, based on Philip Pullman’s fantasy trilogy, is set in a multiverse where every human has a “daemon” companion, an animal-manifestation of their soul. To promote the season finale on December 23rd, we brought the show to life and surprised superfans with one-of-a-kind “Personal Daemons”. Sculptor Kate MacDowell handcrafted multiple arctic species in her signature style of ghostly white porcelain. We devised a system to individually assign a daemon to each influencer based on their unique Twitter/Instagram persona, consisting of likes/interests/activity. For example: group photos + big following = wolf. The figurines were each hand-delivered in a laser-engraved wooden box inspired by the show’s symbol reader. Illustrations and descriptions on all sides painted an extremely detailed picture of the daemon’s personalities, while a quote from “Paradise Lost”, which inspired the novels, embellished the rim. Once opened, fans encountered a personal letter using characteristics and hobbies to explain why they received their specific daemon along with a podium engraved with their individual (and their daemon’s) name. The high level of craft and personalization elevated an ordinary influencer kit to an extraordinary holiday gift that immersed influencers into His Dark Materials – the best gift of all for superfans.