“Welcome to a New Way to TV”

When I joined Hulu’s internal brand design team as a freelance writer, I was soon informed that an all-new Hulu was in the works — as in a new platform, a gorgeous new interface (and it truly is beautiful— props to the product, UX, and design teams), and an entirely new user experience from start to finish.

AND they would be adding a Live TV option.

“Never miss a moment. Watch Live.”

“Welcome to a New Way to TV” indeed. (I think this line works well thanks to Hulu’s inviting slogan, “Come TV With Us” — turning TV into a verb.)

For months we couldn’t wait to share everything. Then finally the new Hulu was announced at CES 2017, and the public beta was launched in May.

For just the tiniest glimpse into why we were so excited, simply compare and contrast the logo treatments here:

Perhaps the strongest impact to me, though, is how the new visual system energizes shows’ and movies’ key art and other content elements individually, while tying them together subtly into a single Hulu universe.

“Stream What You Love”

The internal creative teams at Hulu work closely together. I helped write all communications to initial private beta testers (a select number of applicants were accepted to try it out leading up to the launch) as well as the new welcome experience for real subscribers. A lot of this was focused on product feature education, so we had lots of input from Hulu’s in-house UX writer and other folks on the product team.

Here are just some examples from the new Hulu welcome tour and materials:

“Let the streaming begin.”

[New subscriber welcome]

“Here’s how to Hulu.”

[Product feature education]

“Discover your next favorites.”

[Content-focused messaging & personalized taste recs]

“We love great TV too. Thanks for streaming.”

[Building brand love]

“Hulu is stacked with kids’ favorites. And we mean kids of all ages.”

[Kid-friendly content]

“Your favorite channels are on.”

[Live TV add-on promotion]

And of course, along with a new live platform, an advanced new interface, new hit shows and movies, and all the buzz a scrappy streaming app could hope for, there come many new advertising opportunities (especially for a TV startup with such close relationships to major networks).

To coincide with the big debut, Hulu arranged a one-month homepage takeover on AdAge.com with a campaign appealing directly to advertisers.

I read that The Handmaid’s Tale has been renewed, and I know of some other bold new shows Hulu is getting behind. Lots of hard work from the past year is being recognized now. It’s an exciting time for everyone there and it was a pleasure to be a part of the team.