Lucifer, an investigative TV drama series starring the Lord of Hell, was one of Netflix’s biggest, most anticipated shows in the United States; it had a serious cult following. The brief was to drum up excitement for the final season of Lucifer and to give loyal fans the send-off it deserves. The objective was to use social engagement to get fans talking about it.

We created the “Lucifer Sin Rewards Card,” the first-ever rewards card that rewarded fans for sinning. We kicked off with a usual credit card-like commercial but asked fans to post on social media about the sin they were most guilty of committing. We matched their responses to one of the seven deadly sins and sent them a direct mail package including their own Lucifer Sin Rewards Cards. Each card had credit to be spent on the confessed sin. For example, our gluttonous fans were rewarded with a Gluttony Rewards Card, to be spent on any food-related indulgence of their desire. We then encouraged our fans to post their purchases on social media with #CashInOnSin. In the weeks preceding the premiere date, we reposted our favorite fan videos and posts of the purchases on which our winning fans used their rewards cards.

One insight we gained was that although Lucifer’s fanbase enjoyed sinful, scandalous, and devilish behavior on the show, when we looked at their social media posts and profiles, most admittedly were not as decadent in real life. Lucifer was escapist for fans who led somewhat dull lives. The actors performed sins about which the fans could only fantasize. Our strategy was to connect with those fans and let them enjoy Lucifer-style sinful behavior and give them a taste of what the main character on the show enjoyed daily. On our client’s recommendation, our target audience was largely the current fanbase, from the hardcore fans to the casual viewers. Since it was the final season, some familiarity with the show was necessary to add to the excitement. The campaign used the hashtag #CashInOnSin in most communications, helping to summarize the idea for the fans.

The campaign launched several weeks before the premiere of Lucifer with a credit-card-like commercial introducing the Lucifer Sin Rewards Card, encouraging fans to post the sin they are most guilty of committing and tag our official account, @LuciferNetflix. In the next phase, we continued to tease the contest on our properties and through influencers as social submissions were posted.. A third-party contest company chose the winners evenly based on the sin they posted. Next, we sent a direct mail package to the winners – a devilishly designed Lucifer-branded box containing the Lucifer Sin Rewards Card – customized to one of the seven deadly sins. The winners could use their cards, which acted as prepaid gift cards, on purchases exclusive to the sin’s category. Winners were encouraged to share the purchases they’d made with the card using #CashInOnSin. We reposted the best ones, maintaining engagement leading up to the release date.

Although Netflix keeps its viewing data private, we can rely on social media from the campaign for our results. The campaign totaled 7.9MM impressions including video views, reposts, shares, and internet chatter about the “Sin Rewards Card” before the contest launched and posts after the contest was underway. The contest itself had 255K engagements. The launch video on Twitter had 874K views, and we had thousands of winners.