Inside the marketing playbook that made ‘Stranger Things’ impossible to escape

It’s been nearly a decade since Netflix introduced fans to the fictional town of Hawkins, Ind., the Upside Down, Demogorgons, and the Stranger Things universe. 

Since 2016, the sci-fi series has become a massive hit for Netflix making it one of the streaming service’s most-watched shows with the fourth season alone amassing over 140.7 million views globally, according to the company. The series has earned 12 Primetime Emmy Awards over the course of the last several years, has pushed its young cast into superstardom, and has become a global phenomenon inspiring several live events and pop-up stores in various cities. And its fifth and final season, which is premiering in three parts, is no exception when it comes to the scale.

While the streaming giant and showrunners Matt and Ross Duffer have other spin-offs planned, the fandom was always at the top of their mind when planning the marketing for the show to give the original series a proper send-off.

“Stranger Things is the first franchise for Netflix overall so we do different things year round to reach all the fans and we’ve done that for years and it just keeps building,” Marian Lee, chief marketing officer of Netflix, tells Fast Company. “The fact that we started our live experiences with Stranger Things and have continued to evolve them in different ways is exciting.”

To really build that excitement for fans heading into the final season, Netflix launched a massive global marketing campaign that includes a mix of real life, immersive experiences as well as social media components. And by the beginning of next month, Netflix will have launched several fan events across 32 cities across 23 countries from Tokyo to London and Berlin to Los Angeles. 

Turning ‘Stranger Things’ into real-world experiences

Netflix hosted a “One Last Ride” cycling event with CicLAvia with over 50,000 attendees; a transit station in Buenos Aires was turned into an Upside Down-portal at a transit station; a holographic featuring elements from the series was projected over the Sydney Harbour in Sydney; an old airport hangar in Berlin was transformed into the Stranger Things universe where visitors had the opportunity to enjoy a bike ride through pivotal moments from the show; and just last month in New York City, a Stranger Things-themed float was debuted at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade to its three million attendees.

Other events are planned in London, Bangkok, Milan, Las Vegas, and Madrid later this month. In Las Vegas, fans will be treated to “One Last Adventure: Las Vegas,” a drone show that will feature 5,000 choreographed drones and pyrotechnics highlighting moments from the show complete with a musical mashup. Meanwhile, fans will be able to watch the final episode in theaters across the United States and Canada. 

Earlier this month, Netflix House, the new live entertainment venue that launched in Philadelphia and Dallas this month, features Stranger Things elements at both locations. The Dallas location features an immersive Stranger Things: Escape the Dark experience with a brand new storyline, while the Philadelphia location features a Stranger Things: Catalyst game developed in collaboration with Sandbox VR. On top of that, visitors can enjoy food inspired by the show in the Netflix Bites food court at the Las Vegas location debuting next year.

But even before Netflix began heavily leaning into the experiences during the second half of the year, they also opened its Stranger Things: The First Shadow show on Broadway and West End earlier this year. According to the entertainment giant, demand across Broadway and the West End saw an almost instant sustained increase in sales, with sales at their highest levels since the initial launch of both productions.

The Upside Down takes over social media

Lee said when her team was planning the marketing for the final season, it was important to start early with a social campaign that focused on rewatching previous seasons to get ready for the new one.

Ahead of the final season, Netflix rolled out a pre-launch rewatch campaign, which has generated 5.7 billion earned global social impressions.

“It’s a brilliant way for the team to really think about how to re-engage fans and to get them ready for this next season,” Lee said. “A lot of our strategy really leaned into those core moments.”

A video featuring the four boys played by Finn Wolfhard, Noah Schnapp, Caleb McLaughlin, and Gaten Matarazzo, recreating a scene from the second season earned over 215 million impressions globally. According to Netflix, total earned social impressions for the fifth season has reached 11.5 billion and that’s without the last two volumes of the episodes released yet.

Since then, Netflix has also released many behind-the-scenes moments and audition tapes of the cast across its social channels, which all have millions of followers.

Powered by brands… and ‘80s nostalgia

Lee said another essential part of the campaign was its various partnerships with brands — and for this season, Netflix partnered with many companies across various lifestyle and retail categories like Spotify, Meta, Target, Walmart, Nike, Gap, and several food and beverage brands like Eggo, Doritos, Kellogg’s, Chips Ahoy, and Gatorade all infused with nostalgic elements inspired by the show’s 1980s setting.

Netflix launched a collaboration with military quarantine snack Peanut Butter Boppers earlier this month for a limited time, several other items and snacks inspired by the series with including a special collection with Target that included over 150 exclusive products like Demogorgon popcorn bucket, Demogorgon Bundle Box by Jazwares and exclusive Gatorade x Stranger Things apparel and accessories.

Along with the partnerships with brands like Doritos and Discover, Netflix collaborated closely with each respective brand on a custom partnership that included commercials. 

Lee said her and her team set the bar really high when it came to working with its brand partners this season.

“This fandom is so rich and unique and it just happens to also dovetail really nicely with brands and retailers who are seeing the nostalgia for that 80s’ aesthetic come back so it came together in a really serendipitous way for us to lean in,” Lee said. 

Ultimately, Lee said all the work her and her team really ties back to the fanbase the series has accumulated over the last five seasons.

“It is hard to even articulate the impact on culture that the Duffer Brothers has had,” Lee said. “To watch them tell their story of dreams they had of bringing this show to life and we’re lucky to be the home for that.”

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