HBO's "Rome" Campaign Offers Firefox Skin

The ad campaign for upcoming HBO drama, “Rome,” will try to kindle interest in ancient civilization by integrating with a more recent phenomenon: the Mozilla Foundation’s Firefox browser.

As part of an online ad campaign supporting the series, Firefox users will be encouraged to install a browser theme, or skin, that can be downloaded via a link in banner ads. It’s the first use of a Firefox theme for marketing purposes, according to Ian Schafer, CEO of Deep Focus, the Brooklyn-based agency that handled the campaign’s creative and media planning.

The campaign will also offer integration with calendar functions in Microsoft Outlook’s email client so people can click a banner ad to add broadcast times and reminders for the series. “It’s about creating real estate where there really was none,” said Schafer.

The media plan includes placements in The New York Times Online, Salon.com and the History Channel Online.

Firefox adoption has grown rapidly. It’s the preferred browser of approximately 8.7 percent of all Internet users, according to July figures.