The Refinery created multiple key art executions, three retro illustrated teaser posters, and an award-winning 3D digital OOH cube installation in New York for HBO Max’s IT: Welcome to Derry — giving the streaming horror franchise both a period-specific visual world and a high-impact public spectacle that helped launch one of the platform’s biggest debuts. The premiere drew 5.7 million U.S. viewers in three days, making it HBO Max’s third-biggest series debut ever. By episode three the season was averaging 9.2 million U.S. viewers and roughly 15 million globally per episode.
The challenge
IT: Welcome to Derry needed to connect to one of horror’s most recognizable worlds while introducing the series as its own chapter with its own identity, mood, and momentum.
Because the series takes place in a retro 1960s era, the campaign had an opportunity to build atmosphere through period-inflected design rather than relying only on familiar horror imagery. The work needed to feel unmistakably tied to the IT universe, but still specific enough to make Welcome to Derry feel new.
The idea
The Refinery treated tone as the connective tissue.
For key art, that meant creating multiple visual entries into the title, including three illustrated teaser posters designed to feel like they belonged to the 1960s world of the show. The posters did not simply preview the series. They built a period atmosphere: unsettling, nostalgic, and slightly off in the way good horror usually is.
For out-of-home, the idea shifted from atmosphere to encounter. The New York 3D digital OOH cube was designed as a public horror moment: dimensional, high-impact, and built for both live viewing and social capture.
Together, the work gave IT: Welcome to Derry two kinds of presence: retro atmosphere in the key art and modern spectacle in the street.
What The Refinery made
Multiple key art executions
The Refinery created multiple key art directions for IT: Welcome to Derry, helping define the campaign’s visual language across launch materials and promotional surfaces.
Three illustrated teaser posters
The Refinery created three illustrated teaser posters inspired by the show’s retro 1960s setting. The executions brought period-specific design into the campaign while building suspense around the title.
3D digital OOH cube installation
The Refinery created a 3D digital out-of-home cube for a New York installation, using dimensional motion-based creative to turn the streaming campaign into a public horror spectacle.
Production artwork, finishing, and delivery
Across key art, illustrated teaser art, digital OOH, and motion creative, The Refinery handled production artwork, finishing, and final delivery so the campaign held together across static, digital, and public-facing formats.
Why it worked
The campaign worked because it gave IT: Welcome to Derry more than one entry point.
The illustrated teaser posters used nostalgia as part of the tension. They drew from the show’s 1960s setting to create a period-authentic mood, while still feeling eerie enough to belong to the IT universe. Instead of treating the past as decoration, the work used it as atmosphere.
The 3D digital OOH cube did something different, but just as important. It turned the campaign into an event. In a crowded public environment, the dimensional execution gave passersby a reason to stop, look, film, and share. It worked both in person and on a phone, which is increasingly the job of modern entertainment OOH.
That combination made the campaign feel both crafted and disruptive: visually rich in key art, physically arresting in public space, and strong enough to earn a Global Entertainment Award for Best Digital Out-of-Home.
Project details
Client: HBO Max
Title: IT: Welcome to Derry
Assignment: Create key art, illustrated teaser posters, and 3D digital OOH for a streaming horror franchise campaign
Project scope: Key art executions, three illustrated teaser posters, 3D digital OOH cube installation, motion creative, production artwork, finishing, and final delivery
Markets: New York and broader campaign rollout
Results / Recognition: Global Entertainment Award winner for Best Digital Out-of-Home