STRANGER THINGS - MUSIC SAVES EVERYONE

NETFLIX

CONTEXT

Since it first aired, Stranger Things had grown into a pop culture staple, with crossinfluences in music, fashion and internet culture. 

However, after a 3.5-year gap since the previous season had aired, we needed to launch season 4 with a bang, to remind fans how much Stranger Things means to them.

STRATEGY

In season 4 of Stranger Things, music plays a crucial role. It acts as a mental refuge where characters can escape the evil Vecna’s grasp.

Besides the show’s amazing soundtrack, fans were already making connections to other songs and bands that match the Stranger Things universe and explore the same themes.

Knowing this, we went on to merge together universes and create a pop culture moment.

IDEA: STRANGER x HEATHENS

We chose Twenty One Pilots, a band that sings about connected themes, and whose audience intersects with our show’s.
We went on to bring to life how, just like in the show, music has the power to save everyone.  

To do this, we partnered up with a music festival, Electric Castle, where Vecna’s evil might took over the main stage in a suspenseful moment.  

Then, using the show’s iconic theme song and Twenty One Pilots’ live performance of Heathens, we’ve merged the two universes together.

Thus resulted in an epic moment with a goosebumps-giving atmosphere and the crowd going wild, as Twenty One Pilots performed next to scenes of Stranger Things Season 4, with Max taken hostage by Vecna and saved by music, visually mixed with the powerful lyrics and the special effects of the live show.

A few days after the Electric Castle performence, we launched the digital video: on the YouTube Channel of Twenty One Pilots band, on Netflix Romania’s Facebook social channels, on Electric Castle’s social channels.
Soon, it got picked up by Stranger Things social channels and the Netflix channels all over the world, and shared among fans of both worlds everywhere.

 

RESULTS

The original posts of the official video surpassed all expectations and all previous benchmarks in terms of viewership and engagement, with no media amplification at all: 

  1. On Neflix Romania social channels:
    250K organic reach on Facebook & Instagram. 
    The Facebook post performed as one of the top 20% of all Facebook posts in Romania in terms of engagement. 
  2. On Twenty One Pilots YouTube channel: 18M views to this day (achieving 4M views within the first week), surpassing the launch of their latest album single, and charting no.6 on Top Trending Youtube global

AND THEN IT SPREAD IN SOCIAL MEDIA: 

From the original posts, people made re-uploads and their own mash-ups using the audio of the song, transforming our content in a global viral piece of content: 

– TikTok: 10.4M video (re)uploads with the performance, generating another 41.1M likes and 132M views  

– Facebook & Instagram: Over 39M views and 14M likes on Facebook & Instagram on videos using Stranger Things + Heathens performance sound.  

PICKED UP BY ROMANIAN & INTERNATIONAL MEDIA: 

The moment made it to both Romanian and international press, reaching 10s of millions of people. 

– Romanian Tv stations picked-up the moment: TVR1, Antena 1, Antena 3, Kanal D 

– Romanian news & cultural media: G4 Media, Biziday, Ziarul Metropolis, Cinefan, Iqool, Zi de Zi, Stiri Azi, Hip Hop Live etc. 

– Regional media that vibrated to the local pride of such an epic moment created in their own district: Monitorul de Cluj, I like Cluj, eClujeanu, Clujul Cultural, Cluj Life, Cluj 24 etc. 

– International media: Rolling Stones, Entertainment Weekly, Billboard, Rock Sound TV, Vulture, Yahoo Entertainment, Broadway Road, Newsweek, Stereo Gum & many many others. 

 AND SEASON 4 HAD THE BEST TRENDING RESULTS AMONG NETFLIX ROMANIAN AUDIENCE, compared to previous seasons. 

It was the only season that stayed in trending as No. #1 for 4 weeks on the Netflix platform in Romania, also staying in Top 10 trending series for 13 weeks and it’s the season that attracted the most new viewers.

 

RECOGNITION

@INTERNETICS 2022

GOLD in SOCIAL MEDIA // Viral Video Category
GOLD in COMMUNITIES // Brand Associated Communities Category 

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