Working with Rob Rasmussen, ECD at Story, on a pitch for the launch of Starz channel’s provocative series “Black Sails,” we were challenged to create an engagement campaign that would make a show about pirates cool, relevant and attractive to an adult audience. The 18-35 year old audience Starz targeted had no interest in sanitized, ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ cliches. We needed to rebrand the whole idea of pirates in today’s world.
In stark contrast to dandy, Capt. Hook-style buccaneers, we presented the pirates of “Black Sails” as flesh-and-blood, slightly-sexier versions of you and me. We drew strong parallels between the questions confronting 18th century buccaneers and those confronting us today: Are they insurgents or freedom fighters? The bad guys or the good guys?
