The New Year's Eve theft combined entertainment and marketing by capitalizing on a high-profile moment and a well-known TV hostess, to create a seamless narrative. The objective was to grab the attention of millions of viewers during one of Spain's biggest televised events merging fiction and reality. The orchestrated 'theft' was a bait to draw viewers into a narrative that transitioned into an advertisement for Berlin's new show on Netflix and the release of a special edition beer by Estrella Galicia. The stunt generated a huge buzz on social media and the press, showcasing the power of creative media use.

This stunt aimed to announce the new Money Heist spin-off focusing on the backstory of the famous Netflix thief Berlin. Given his prominence, we knew that a grand gesture was necessary for promotion: a high-profile theft. That's why we decided to hijack one of Spain's most significant cultural events: the New Year’s Eve ‘Count Down’.

Every December 31st, Spaniards tune in to watch the countdown on TV, making it one of the most-watched events in the country. While many channels broadcast the event live from the ‘Puerta del Sol’ clock in Madrid, one hostess consistently steals the spotlight with her tradition of surprising everyone with her outfits. Her name is Cristina Pedroche, and for the past ten years, she has fueled anticipation around her New Year’s Eve attire, filling newspapers, gossip programs, and social media with rumors and assumptions.

We faced a major challenge: to capture the attention of 5.6 million viewers on one of the most advertising-heavy nights of the year. We chose to innovate by mixing fiction and reality: hijacking the live broadcast by stealing the necklace as the camera shifted away from the hosts and making it impossible for viewers to look away as Cristina found out and panicked during Estrella Galicia’s sponsored toast. The transition to a conventional TV spot revealed the heist's mastermind, with Berlin escaping with the hostess's necklace, filmed on the same set as the live event. Merging the sponsored segment during the chimes and the advertisement during the year's first advertising block.

SITUATION & MEDIA INSIGHT

Every December 31st, Spaniards watch the countdown on live TV, making it one of the most-watched events in the country.

BRIEF

Netflix was releasing Berlin, the spin-off about the famous white-collar thief from Money Heist, one of its most popular non-English shows worldwide. We needed to communicate it in a big way coming up with an original and cultural idea to surprise Spaniards with Berlin's come back during Christmas time.

OBJECTIVES

Take advantage of the collaboration between Estrella Galicia and Netflix to make something different, something never done before that would let people, influencers (and the press) talking about it for weeks to help us build awareness about the show Berlin, but also help Estrella Galicia present their limited edition bottle designed for the occasion.

In a mix of fiction and reality, coinciding with the premiere of Berlin, the series about the famous Netflix thief, we made almost 6 million Spaniards believe that the necklace of the most followed TV hostess of the New Year's Eve countdown was stolen live on air. While everybody could not believe what was happening and as social media exploded, a spot in the first ad block of the year revealed who was the mastermind behind the robbery: Berlin, who we could see escaping from the set of the chimes disguised as a waiter with the necklace that seconds before had disappeared live from the hostess's forehead.

"Money Heist" is one of Netflix's most successful sagas so to announce that Berlin was back in action. we decided to make a robbery on a par with its main character.

We opted to do it during Cristina Pedroche's New Year's Eve Countdown, a prime live TV event in Spain and one of the most-watched/broad events in the country .

To steal Cristina Pedroche's jewel, live, in front of more than 5.6 million spectators we needed a very good plan and that's when we realized that Estrella Galicia beer sponsored not only the Berlin show but also a live 10" segment on the New Year's Eve event so we saw an opportunity to join forces between both brands with an unexpected collaboration and a smart media buy:

A big guerrilla stunt that merged a non-paid live TV broadcast, a sponsored 10" live segment and a traditional TV spot.

TV hostess Cristina Pedroche participated in our heist by wearing a necklace as part of her New Years Eve outfit.

• During the final countdown, when cameras shift focus to Madrid's Puerta del Sol clock, we simulated the theft of the jewel.

• Back on set, Cristina always toast with a Estrella Galicia beer in hand during a 10-second live sponsored segment that leads into the first commercial break of the year.

The program has followed the same structure for more than a decade without any surprises. Until this year: The segment began with the traditional toast yet, in the last 5 seconds, we made people believe that the necklace was stolen, prompting an abrupt cut to the commercials.

• With all the viewer speculation about the live incident, we aired a TV spot revealing Berlin with the necklace hidden in an Estrella Galicia ice bucket, clarifying the staged theft.

We managed to combine the Chimes' sponsored live segment with a TV spot into a cohesive storytelling that merged a non-paid live TV broadcast, a sponsored live segment and a traditional TV spot in one big guerrilla stunt that broke the limits of a until now- traditional media format.

And this is reflected in the results:

More than 21 MILLION PEOPLE have watched our spot in a week.

More than 42 MILLION IMPACTS on TV and social media.

More than 1.7 MILLION third-party interactions.

More than 56% positive brand recognition.

TOP #1 GLOBALLY non-english TV show.