HBO Plugs 'John Adams' with Letter Campaign

Standee posters in post offices will promote HBO¹s OELetter¹ campaign for "John Adams."

One of John Adam’s more quotable lines, “Let us dare to read, think and write,” is now a component of HBO’s campaign to publicize its upcoming mini-series about the famous revolutionary patriot.

That line will be printed on approximately 3.75 million post office receipts daily and on cancellations of 3 billion pieces of mail through February and March. The receipts and cancellations direct people to the central Web site in HBO’s promotional effort, poweroftheletter.com.

The “Power of the Letter” campaign encourages consumers to customize one of six different greeting cards carrying quotes from John Adams and his wife, Abigail, and send the cards for free. The cards, available through March 30, are intended to build awareness for the HBO mini-series by nudging people to emulate the letter writing of Adams and his wife who exchanged more than 1,000 letters in their lifetimes.

HBO’s seven-part “John Adams,” based on David McCullough’s Pulitzer Prize-winning biography, debuts on March 16.

“It’s an opportunity to extend our promotion beyond traditional advertising,” said Zach Enterlin, HBO vice president of advertising and promotion. “Given the prolific letter-writing of John and Abigail Adams, it was a great fit.”

Civic Entertainment Group conceived and executed the campaign for HBO.

The letter campaign includes a sweepstakes: Visitors to the Web site can register for a chance to win a VIP trip to four to Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia, with airfare and accommodations included. Williamsburg, the capital of the original 13 colonies, was a location site for the mini-series.

“John Adams” standees in window clings in nearly 13,000 post offices nationwide will promote the online campaign. And “Power of the Letter” will take over the USPS.com home page for the week preceding the mini-series debut.

On-air and movie theater trailers promote the series for HBO, which has also partnered with Simon & Schuster to reissue an edition of the McCullough book with an image of actor Paul Giamatti as Adams.

HBO is also partnering with Time for Kids on a high school educational program to precede the mini-series.