The market for cinema platforms became increasingly competitive. And although the global giant Netflix continues first in subscribers, substantial growth of Disney +, HBO Max and Amazon Prime Video In recent years, it has generated a concern that forces it to innovate in its communication to maintain leadership. Furthermore, there is something that the N sign is missing, and that is history. It can do little when its competitors go out to promote their catalogs of yesteryear, as the Disney label does with its animated classics (“Aladdin”, “The Lion King”, etc.), the Marvel universe or Star Wars; Something similar happens with HBO when it revives “Sex And The City”, “The Sopranos” or “Friends”; while Amazon does the same with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, parent company of hits like Rocky, Rambo and James Bond.
Lateral thinking
However, Netflix’s advertising department, thanks to creative productions such as “Stranger Things”, “Breaking Bad” and “House Of Cards”, managed to turn his greatest weakness into his best opportunity. If he didn’t have history, he had to create it. Indoctrinate Luis Bassat, one of the most important advertisers in history: “Good advertising sells the product today and builds the brand for tomorrow.” And in that direction Netflix went to reposition its business. A provocative, bold, irreverent communication, exceeding the limit of good taste but taking advantage of the era of emptiness, where any impact resonates without leaving a trace. Another important point in its favor, entertainment decisions are now not exclusive to adults, so targeting teenagers is gaining an ally and, consequently, a client.
Netflix’s new campaign is called “Watch Netflix”, a premise that is based on the duality of whether inviting someone to watch a movie at home is literal or is the indirect door to a sexual encounter. To do this, his studio created three advertising spots that are shown in cinemas, television and YouTube. In them you can see a boy in doubt about whether or not to shave his genitals for the act of love, a girl in the dilemma of whether to bring a vibrator to the encounter, and a man not knowing whether to take the blue pill. In this case, Netflix anticipates being accused of being sexist or sexist and makes all possible sexual gender combinations.
Unlimited
Another great concept that explains the advertising line that the platform adopted is the one once developed by the French creative Philippe Michel: “The job of advertising is not to sell, but to create a cultural connection between the desires of the businessman and those of the public.” And standing on this logical thought, Netflix launched a more than controversial campaign to promote the launch of the series “Griselda”, which tells the life of the woman who preceded Pablo Escobar in the Latin American drug empire. The chosen city was Paris and you can see how a truck, styled with the typography of the series, aspires along the white pedestrian lines, emulating the consumption of cocaine. The video went viral and helped place the series among the most important novels of 2024.
The same disruptive procedure was used to promote the end of the successful English series “Sex Education”. The double meaning, reaching the tawdry but highly pregnant, was the protagonist of all her actions. Her campaign stated: “You will want to swallow it whole”.
With this advantage over its competitors, that of having carte blanche when it comes to promoting its productions, Netflix remains the market leader with advertisements that shock and bother. But the objective has been achieved, to obtain greater visibility than its competitors, who for now remain constricted in the family lifestyle they proclaim. Netflix laughs at that and that is why its campaigns are increasingly stinging.
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