And just like that … a car brand is essentially responsible for hitting the green light on the new And Just Like That companion series.
Premiering alongside the Sex and the City spin-off’s new season last week, Behind the Look is Warner Bros. Discovery’s first editorially driven companion show, according to Twyla Huang-DiSimone, svp of brand strategy and solutions for WBD. The 12-episode series goes behind the scenes with And Just Like That costume designers Molly Rogers and Danny Santiago as they showcase outfits while traveling around New York City in a Genesis GV80 SUV in each three- to five-minute installment.
Huang-DiSimone said the series originated from Rogers’ mind and had buy-in from WBD and showrunner Michael Patrick King, but it wouldn’t have happened without Genesis signing on.
“It was made possible with the funding from Genesis, who is the exclusive sponsor,” Huang-DiSimone said, adding, “It was something that the showrunner and that Molly felt strongly about, but it was not in their original intent for the release of the actual series, and therefore they had to find some funding.”
The partnership continues an industry trend in which the lines between content and commerce are blurring, with brand funding becoming increasingly important as a means to get projects created. For example, Sugar23 and Fifth Season announced a new brand-focused TV and film studio late last year, bringing brands into the creative process early. Meanwhile, for its part, WBD recently announced its Storyverse offering at its upfront event in May, which allows brands to utilize its IP if it’s the right fit.
However, Huang-DiSimone noted that WBD’s relationship between the storyteller and the fan “is of the utmost importance” when it comes to integrating brands into content.
“We never want to force fit. We also want to make sure that our showrunners and our editorial teams are comfortable and feel good about it,” Huang-DiSimone said. “In this case, it made so much sense, because Genesis as a brand just fully aligns with the style and ethos of And Just Like That.”
Finding the right fit
According to Huang-DiSimone, Genesis had been a sponsor for Industry Season 3, and the brand was looking for more integration opportunities within luxury-inspired IP. But the clincher for the partnership was how seamless the brand fit within the companion series, which wasn’t conceived as a branded opportunity. As WBD’s first editorially driven companion series, Behind the Look was created and produced by the in-house creative services team for HBO and Max Originals
