Netflix Premieres an Alien Watch Party at the Olympics
‘The World Is On Netflix,’ debuting during the opening ceremony, is streamer’s second global brand campaign
If most major media companies are to be believed, streaming video is the future of global entertainment—and Netflix says that goes for outside of Earth as well.
In a global brand campaign officially debuting today during the Olympics opening ceremony, the streaming giant says that even extraterrestrial life are fans of their streaming service, which has programming options highlighting all facets of the human existence.
The intergalactic ad airing today features a motley crew of wide-eyed animated aliens who, through a reception of videos from earth, experience what human life on earth is like through Netflix originals like Bridgerton, The Queen’s Gambit and My Octopus Teacher.
‘The World is On Netflix’
The campaign, called “The World Is On Netflix,” will be broadcast in more than a dozen countries and regions, including Argentina, Brazil, Benelux (which includes Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg), France, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, South Africa, Sweden, the U.K. and the U.S.
The spot was directed by RSA films’ Robert Stromberg, the director of Maleficent and the visual effects designer for TV series like Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: The Next Generation and films like Avatar. (He’s also directed ads for Intel, Mercedes and GE, among others.) The Mill served as the spot’s production studio, Storefront Music provided music production and Squeak E Clean Studios was the audio house. MASH served as creative partner, Typeji provided typography and Deep Local was the experiential agency.
It’s the first time Netflix has debuted a brand campaign during a major global moment, and only its second global brand campaign in less than a year’s time. Last September, the company rolled out its “One Story Away” campaign to highlight Netflix originals including ‘The Witcher’, ‘Unorthodox’ and ‘Tiger King’ that bring viewers closer to understanding different worlds, perspectives and people.
This second brand campaign debuting today is thematically similar, focusing on how the streamer can bring humans—and other lifeforms—together.
Netflix has been teeing up the spot all week, beginning with a teaser video posted Wednesday showing an alien silhouette looking at Earth. This week, the streamer also pulled a stunt at Area 51, the classified U.S. Air Force facility in Nevada that is often associated with UFOs and other extraterrestrial phenomenon. The stunt, which Netflix filmed and released Thursday, included translating and streaming five trailers for Netflix originals like ‘Lupin’ into the Keplar-160 system, which was recently discovered to likely have Earth-like planets.
An astrophysicist affiliated with Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute (SETI) acted as a consultant to the project, which also included the erection of five billboards promoting Netflix originals, each 105 yards tall and 50 yards wide.
The campaign is rolling out three days after Netflix said it ended the second quarter with 209 million global subscribers amid a slowdown in growth. The streamer is looking internationally for more growth opportunities and for the chance to translate local-language programming into global hits.
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