But as Huang-DiSimone puts it, “[Rogers] actually needed a car.”
“There was no forcing of a vehicle. And, interestingly enough, she is a Genesis customer, so it made perfect sense and made it that much easier to get this partnership off the ground,” Huang-DiSimone said.
With creative support for the idea, Behind the Look seamlessly integrates the Genesis brand in the opening sequence and features it throughout various episodes as Rogers travels in New York City.
According to Huang-DiSimone, the partnership with Genesis isn’t part of WBD’s Storyverse. That forthcoming content will tend to focus on more nostalgic and classic IP, such as Elf, Friends, The Wizard of Oz, or The Big Bang Theory.
Instead, the Genesis partnership is part of WBD’s efforts around its newer IP and brings numerous firsts with it.
In addition to being the company’s first editorially driven companion series, the show also appears in the “Extras” tab alongside And Just Like That for both ad-supported and ad-free Max tiers, which is the first use of this distribution model for Max. The companion series is also available across various social platforms.
Still, the partnership isn’t necessarily a plug-and-play formula that WBD will continually follow in the future. Instead, Huang-DiSimone noted that it showcases the importance WBD places on being stewards of its IP.
“This signals to the marketplace how careful we are with these relationships,” Huang-DiSimone said. “We have some tough conversations with brands because we need to find the right alignment between the brand and the IP. We always want to ensure that the fans come first.”
