Cannes Lions
MNSTR, Paris / NETFLIX / 2020
Awards:
Overview
Entries
Credits
Background
In 2018, Stephen King tweeted: Money Heist on Netflix: If you like heist capers, you’re going to love this. It is a firecracker.
‘La Casa de Papel’ is a heist crime drama about a group of robbers, led by the charismatic ‘Professor’. He managed to make entire France sympathetic to the robbers’ resistance against powerful banks, not just heist lovers…
Initially intended to be told in two parts, Part 2 ends with the robbers’ escape as millionaires. The heist is over. The gang scattered to the four winds. The end.
But not for Netflix. Whilst fans were happy to know the heisters were enjoying life on paradise-like islands, Netflix was already working on their comeback.
The one-million-dollar question: How to get an entire nation obsessively excited about something they believe is done and dusted?
Netflix aimed for nothing less than make the biggest show of 2018 even bigger in 2019.
Strategy
Our plan was sophisticated, long-prepared, and well thought-through. Like coming directly from the Professor’s mastermind:
On July 19th, a holiday and official launch day of Part 3, the Professor would conduct the perfect crime: He’d successfully hack the regional and national media to speak directly to the public: You are one of us. Join la Resistencia.
He’d catch the French exactly where they would be on that day: On their way out of town. Or already on holiday in more rural areas.
The news would spread like a wildfire.
From big cities. To villages.
From Brittany to the Pyrenees.
From Paris to Marseille.
LCDP had been the perfect acquisition tool for Netflix, now we needed to leverage this. In order to beat our own record and reach out beyond Netflix current member base, a nation-wide 360 hack was the only way forward.
The Professor would not have done it otherwise.
Execution
And then, on 19th July, we brought the house down:
Having partnered up with Domino's, SEAT, and Lindt, we hacked their spots 45 times, broadcasting the Professor at prime time in French television.
His haunting voice also flooded Gare Du Nord and Gare de Lyon: When holiday traffic peaked, we took over every single screen and the audio-system. The effect was overwhelming. Hundreds of chins dropped simultaneously. Phones were pulled out to capture and share the moment. Delighted faces everywhere.
Furthermore, 60 regional and national newspapers decided to support us: On hack day, the Money Heist mask with the appeal to join la Resistencia was the only thing to see on their cover.
We would not stop at the world-wide-web. The nation’s top online channels during holidays were affected by our hack, getting the Professors’ message out in the digital world as well.
One day. One hack. One message.
Everywhere.
Outcome
La Casa would have been proud of us.
Our hack reached two third of the country’s population: 45 million French.
Almost 10 million French had listened to the Professor on TV.
Nearly 20 million were surprised by our train station take-over.
14.6 million had read his message in their newspaper.
And 3.5 million saw him online.
Entire France was talking about us on Twitter.
And la Casa was the most discussed topic on Social.
The professor called, and the French had followed: Part 3 of La Casa de Papel became the most successful Netflix season of all times in France.
Mission completed.
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