Stranger Things is a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon, growing with every season since its launch.

However, in the three years gap after previous season (2019), the actors

had grown up noticeably and the storyline had also developed: from 80s

nostalgia scary-sci-fi story about kids trying to fight an evil creature, to an

explosive horror action story, about teenagers who are fighting both a literal

monster, as well as their own inner monsters. More drama, more action &

suspense, more humor, more psychological tension, more horror.

With everything dialed up in the new season, we needed to make the launch just as BIG, and as memorable as possible.

LAUNCH OBJECTIVES:

1.Grow the series’ local fanbase (by attracting new audiences)

2.Bring the Netflix brand closer to Romanians (by making them feel part of the global culture around it).

So, instead of using conventional ads, we set out to create a one-of-a-kind live experience.

In Stranger Things Season 4, the danger of The Upside Down invading Our

World is bigger than ever:

Vecna (season’s villain) is entering the minds of people struggling with

emotional issues, to consume their energy and create rifts between the two

worlds, in order to let the evil in.

But, in this narrative, MUSIC PLAYS A KEY ROLE: A SAFEHEAVEN for the characters, to escape Vecna's “curse” and stop the evil from taking over.

To promote season 4, we wanted to bring to life the show's leitmotif about finding refuge in music, because it's something our audience relates to.

So, we created a cultural moment with the message that MUSIC HAS THE POWER TO SAVE EVERYONE, not just the characters in the show.

To best convey this, we chose the live performance of Twenty One Pilots, the band known for singing about outcasts, and praised for "healing" with their music.

[TARGET AUDIENCE]

ROMANIA’S YOUNG ADULTS:

They have different backgrounds and demographics (core target 16-25 y.o,

extended to 18-35 y.os) - From teenagers to Peter Pan generation, they still feel "unadapted", society’s "underdogs", likely at their first job & entering adulthood. THEY LISTEN TO MUSIC CATHARTICALLY: a soundtrack to life that helps them cope.

Thrill seekers, they go to festivals, where they look to break the ordinary with

immersive experiences. To engage them, that’s exactly what we gave them.

[COMMUNITY BUILDING& MANAGEMENT APPROACH]

We reached out to ELECTRIC CASTLE, Romania’s most popular festival for

our audience.

There, we partnered with the headliner having the best show affinity:

TWENTY ONE PILOTS, and their song "Heathens", which fans had already pointed out to match StrangerThings:

- thematically: conversations about how show characters’ challenges

(underdogs, outcasts, struggling growing up) fit Heathens lyrics.

- and musically: creating their own UGC mash-ups and posting them online.

1.OFFICIAL VIDEO SURPASSED ALL BENCHMARKS (viewership, engagement),

WITHOUT ANY MEDIA AMPLIFICATION:

1.Netflix Romania Facebook post: in top 20% of all Facebook posts in

Romania:

1.9x more shares,

1.3x more reactions,

1.2x more comments.

(Now: 3.3M views)

2.TwentyOne Pilots YouTube video:

4M views in 1 week (Now: 21.7M views), surpassing band’s latest single launch & charting #6 Top Trending Youtube global.

2.GLOBALLY VIRAL:

Before official video release, people uploaded their own StrangerHeathens content (Tiktok, Facebook& Instagram)

> +10.4M uploads with the recording of the live show, generating 132M views, 41.1M likes.

> +39M views, 14M likes on videos using StrangerHeathens sound

3.STRANGER THINGS SEASON4:

BEST TRENDING RESULTS AMONG NETFLIX ROMANIAN AUDIENCE, versus previous seasons.

-only season trending as No.#1 for 4 weeks on Netflix in Romania;

-in Top10 trending series for 13 weeks;

-season attracting the most new viewers.

SOURCES:

Meta Insights, July2022

Luminate Board tracking, July2022

Youtube, July-October2022

Netflix, 2021-2022