Cannes Lions

Netflix Ragnarok S02 Launch Campaign

NETFLIX, Amsterdam / NETFLIX / 2022

Overview

Entries

Credits

Overview

Background

Early 2021 Netflix nordic contacted us with a request to see the opportunities of a brand activation for the second season of Ragnarok - in the middle of a pandemic. They wanted to keep the activation locally in Norway - as the show is filmed in Norway and in Norwegian - but still engage fans from all over the world and also draw attention to new audiences. So to summarize the brief, a social media campaign involving talent from the show, a physical installation and a launch stunt/event. With the limitations that came with the pandemic, we were forced to be creative and give a feeling of togetherness in a time of isolation.

Idea

As the show is based on Norse mythology, we knew that we had to use the mystical undertone to tease our main event, while also teasing the plot of s02. The second season focused on the forging of Thor's hammer - and therefore each Thor's day (thursday), a new mysterious post was published and a talent-story with an unboxing of a given element to each character, that would together forge the hammer of Thor - air, earth, fire and water. And when the elements came together, something would light up the sky in Oslo midnight before the premier - launch stunt. With the limitations of events we decided to make a physical silent disco, light show, live from a barge in the Oslo Fjord, live broadcasted minutes before the premiere, where all the elements came together and forged the hammer on a 10m long LED screen, accompanied by a dj-duo.

Strategy

Target audience: Gen Z (age 16 - 20)

Scandinavia, Turkey, US, Germany , UK, etc Netflix users internationally

As most of the target audience were based abroad (not in Norway), we knew that our main launch stunt had to be live broadcasted on SOME, and the teasers and and campaign leading up to the stunt had to be organic and available for the fans where they were. The actors/talent already had large audiences on various platforms, which broadened our audience and potentially converted some of their followers to viewers of the show. We also had to make sure that our tone of voice was fitting to our audience, while still keeping the mysterious undertone. Jumping on social media trends, we activated talent with mysterious boxes containing their element which the "unboxed" on their instagram story and tagged @netflixnordic and @netflixragnarok.

Execution

Instagram became the hub for our social campaign four weeks before the premier with weekly feed posts and stories connecting talent with element.

One week ahead, a physical art installation og rusty containers with street art portraits of the characters with given elements were visible at the Oslo Harbour, which two days before the launch got covered with posters promoting the stunt "Look to the sky" MAY 26TH MIDNIGHT". The artists who were involved also made content about the prosess of painting the portraits and showing the talent.

The main event was live on YouTube 23:45 CET, Thor's day May 26th.

Outcome

@NetflixNordic - feed

13/05 1,707 views, 21 comments

20/05 1,277 views, 13 comments

26/05 15,3k views, 50 comments

@RagnarokNetflix - feed

06/05 26.8k views, 431 comments

13/05 44,5k views,112 comments

13/05 31,5k views, 82 comments

20/05 53,6k views, 58 comments

20/05 49,5k views,100 comments