Consumers love their Netflix shows—so much so that they often binge-watch themselves to sleep and lose their spot. Fans across social media were sharing their humorous frustrations with this first world problem.

Our strategy was to celebrate Netflix fan culture by introducing a solution. Informed by social listening and by user-submitted ideas, we created the perfect marathon-watching accessory: smart socks.

Netflix socks use an accelerometer to detect when you've dozed off and send a signal to your TV, automatically pausing your show so you don't wake up two episodes ahead of where you left off.

We aligned the launch of Netflix socks with the holiday season in mid-December 2015, releasing a short video on the MakeIt website, and partnering with Make: Magazine to generate conversation. We invited fans to create socks of their own with knitting patterns inspired by Netflix Originals, step-by-step DIY instructions, and open-source firmware and schematics available on the website. Additionally, we gave fans the opportunity to submit ideas for future MakeIt innovations.

The project itself targeted Netflix fans in the maker community, while the story around the socks was crafted for mainstream appeal; fans who didn’t want to make their own socks still had plenty to get excited and talk about.

The series-centric knitting patterns, including an inverted flag for House of Cards and a glass of Pinot Noir for Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, reinforced fan loyalty.

In fact, within days of the launch, the socks went viral—all without traditional PR support.

Netflix socks instantly became a global phenomenon, organically transcending tech media and reaching audiences around the world. From tech press such as Engadget and Gizmodo to mainstream entertainment including Good Morning America, NPR, and Huffington Post, the socks garnered over one billion earned media impressions and appeared on 600 live TV segments.

On social, Netflix socks spread organically—fast. Within just three weeks of launch, the socks were mentioned 49 times per hour on Twitter, garnering an average of 1,175 tweets per day from nearly 20,000 users. Influential voices in media—including Arianna Huffington, Marc Andreessen, and Michael Arrington—tweeted about the socks from their personal accounts.

The cultural relevance and authenticity of the project made Netflix socks a topic of daily conversation across platforms during the busy holiday season and further established Netflix as an innovative force in the entertainment industry.