It’s hard to ignore the noise around the debut of Netflix’s ‘Stranger Things’ new season this week.
The hit series will debut its third Season on Thursday, 04 July 2019. With that said, brands are also not sleeping on the opportunity of putting out the smartest campaigns and partnering with Netflix to be part of this heavily hyped debut.
Stranger Things “Season 3” takes place in Summer 1985 in Hawkins, Indiana – a few months after Eleven closed the Upside Down and finally kissed Mike at the Snow Ball.
Brands such as Coca-Cola, Nike, Levis, Lego, Burger King, and H&M have gone on to put out interesting campaigns that capture the 80’s summertime in Hawkins.
Here are the Brands collaborating with Stranger Things and how they put out the tasteful campaigns:
Coca-Cola
To celebrate Season 3 of Stranger Things, Coke is taking us back to 1985 to bring back the New Coke. Coca-Cola introduced New Coke back in 80s, but this limited edition release was a total fail, and the company had to remove it from shelves months after release.
And fast forward to 2019, Coca-Cola decided to collaborate with Stranger Things to give the New Coke a spotlight again by featuring it in the new season. Yep! product placement.
To pave way for their on-going collaboration with the hit series, Coca-Cola released a New Coke 80’s-themed advert which features Lucas, Dustin and Steve.
Further, the company has launched “Stranger Things” Coke and Coke Zero Sugar glass bottles, cans, plus exclusive merchandise which consists of tees and hoodies.
LEGO
LEGO dived into the scene by releasing Stranger Things a 2,287-piece set dubbed “The Upside Down.” The set includes eight minifigures and as the title suggests, the set can be flipped upside down to show the famous Byers household and its mirrored version.
This release was accompanied by an 80s-themed advert showing characters and features of the this Lego set.
Burger King
To jump onto this exciting marketing opportunity, Burger King announced upside-down Whoppers which come in 1980s packaging.
The hamburger chain announced it will be selling its regular Whopper “Upside-Down Whopper” with the bottom part of the burger put on top and vice-versa. The “Upside-Down Whopper” was sold at 11 selected BK’s restaurants in U.S cities: Miami, Houston, Atlanta, Chicago, New York and Los Angeles to name a few.
Burger King chose to offer the burger in 11 locations referencing Eleven the character on the show.
Those selected restaurants also sold limited-edition ketchup packets and Stranger Things themed tees.
H&M
H&M launched a unisex and limited capsule collection featuring ‘80s aesthetic. The simple, colourful, floral and retro-themed collection centres around the Hawkins Community Pool and features a Stranger Things-inspired range of clothing, swimwear and accessories for both women and men. The collection consists of bikini wear, towels, sandals, cap, tees, vests, moon bag to name a few.
Accompanying the collection is a campaign starring Dacre Montgomery, who plays Billy Hargrove in Stranger Things.
Levi’s
Levi’s also partnered with Stranger Things on a capsule collection that includes product for both men’s and women’s. Working directly with the Stranger Things wardrobe team on their third season, Levi’s® leveraged their extensive Archives to help round out period-correct costuming for a wide range of characters in the show.
The new season is set in 1985, a time when the Levi’s® brand’s massive imprint on culture and everyday style was as significant as it is today. The Levi’s® design team also worked with the show’s costume designers to create special, authentically replicated Levi’s® looks for two fan-favorites on the show: Eleven and Dustin.
Not only will these full looks appear in the show, they’ll also be available for purchase as part of this special edition Levi’s® x Stranger Things collection.
Nike
And saving last for best, the Swoosh brand dropped a tasteful #NikeStrangerThings Collection which consists of apparel and sneakers. The collection consists of iconic Nike silhouettes, the Cortez, Blazer and Air Tailwind ‘79. Introduced alongside matching apparel, these classic Nike silhouettes were originally intended for the Hawkins High Athletic Dept and feature green and orange color combos with Hawkins High logos. Each shoe comes complete with original-inspired Nike packaging and special edition pins.
Tailoring their story to Hawkins:
In the summer of 1985, several transport vehicles departed from Nike Headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon, carrying special product shipments headed to multiple locations across the US. Unfortunately, a few of the shipments never made it to their destination. These vehicles all had one thing in common…they were last seen on surveillance footage passing through Hawkins, Indiana. 34 years later, signs of the missing shipments are popping up, piece by piece, and it’s clear that there is something deeper, darker and more evil brewing.
Those are some of the notable marketing campaigns and collaborations around Stranger Things. You will notice how genius it is of the above-mentioned brands to fuse their products with the theme of the series by taking it back to the 80’s, either with retro aesthetics, adverts, packing, the fashion and colours.
For Netflix, this is powerful because they have found a way to score advertising and make revenue in a tasteful manner and the opportunity could be even bigger in the near future – as the streaming industry continues to grow. The streaming giant is simply tying its brand and shows with all these relatable brands – that will make consumers think Netflix or Stranger Things once they see or consume the products.
Netflix debuted Season 2 back in 2017 with 9 episodes, while Season 3 is expected to bring 8 episodes only.
Season 3 stars Finn Wolfhard as Mike Wheeler, Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven, Noah Schnapp as Will Byers, Caleb McLaughlin as Lucas Sinclair, Winona Ryder as Joyce Byers, David Harbour as Chief Jim Hopper, Gaten Matarazzo as Dustin Henderson, Cara Buono as Karen Wheeler, Natalia Dyer as Nancy Wheeler to name a few.
Check out the trailer below:
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