Even though it was only for two minutes, Mirtha Legrand returned to fiction. The diva of the lunches was summoned by HBO to be the face of the commercial of “The House of the Dragon” the prequel to the hit “Game of Thrones”, and his presence in advertising announcing the premiere of the series became all the rage. But beyond Legrand’s performance, her call to participate in the announcement exposed a new reality that streaming platforms face: getting their international audiovisual productions closer to the public in each country.
The Argentine audience has its peculiarities and not only HBO is attentive to this phenomenon, but it is a reality that adds more and more figures or national media lending themselves to ensure that foreign series or films are perceived as closer. It is that all these advertisements also contain winks that can only be understood by Argentines and, thus, not only act as a mere advertisement, but also appeal to the national identity.
Divas. Sitting at a table as in their traditional lunches, Legrand advertised “The House of the Dragon” telling a story as if she were part of that fiction. The diva even plays with the fact that she is part of the Targaryen lineage, the fictional monarchical family of the series. “I agreed to reveal the great secrets of my family. There have been conflicts in my family circle: romances, power struggles. Everything has really happened and I have decided to tell it, ”says Mirtha while her speech is interspersed with images from the series. “Who better to tell us about royalty and dynasties than the very queen of Argentine television?”, the HBO post said that accompanied the video, making it clear that the parallelism between the family real from fiction and our country was not random and that, on the contrary, he played with Legrand’s royal status.
The publicity, which came to light five days before the series premiered, was filmed more than a month ago, but there was a confidentiality agreement between the platform and Nacho Viale’s producer to avoid any type of leak. The deal included a five-figure dollar cachet for Legrand.
These advertisements with winks that only the Argentine public can capture had a pivotal precedent in 2016. That year, Moria Casan was summoned by Netflix to participate in the launch of the fourth season of “Orange is the new black”. The series that narrated the lives of women imprisoned in a US federal prison could not have had a better hook with the local reality. It is that Casán had left a few days ago from a prison in Paraguay, where she was accused of stealing a jewel, a case in which she was finally dismissed. The image of Moria with an orange jumpsuit transcended even advertising and became a recurring meme on social networks.
In 2021, Netflix wanted to advertise the second season of “Emily in Paris” and for that he looked for the most famous Argentine who lived in the French capital, location of the series. Wanda Nara was the obvious chosen one. With the Eiffel Tower in the background, Wanda He invited them to watch the series and gave it an Argentine touch: “I want to take you to tour Paris, and then come home to drink mate and then tell me. See you in a few days”. At the same time, humorist William Aquino She also became the local face of another exclusive Netflix product, the movie “Don’t Look Up.” The sketch intersperses the plot of the film with the national news, promoting, once again, that identification with national elements of a foreign audiovisual product.
Politics. But if there is an issue that keeps Argentines awake and that can make a reference understood by the public, it is politics. In this sense, examples also abound. The most famous was the tweet that the account of the series “House of cards” dedicated to Federico Pinedo after his 12 hours at the head of the national Executive Power in full presidential transition between CFK and Mauricio Macri in 2015. “Your presidency was the most perfect in the history of democracy,” said the tweet awarded to Frank Underwood, a character who in fiction aspired to reach the White House. In 2019, when Luciana Salazar surprised locals and strangers with her comments on the national situation, she starred in the advertisement for “The Politician”, in which she played an adviser to the series’ protagonist, who also aspired to become president. .
Motherland. This resource of seeking proximity to the local public is not only reserved for English-speaking series. Spanish products, which have become some of the most successful of all streaming companies, also appeal to the same resource. The mediatic Caniggia brothers, Alex and Charlottelent themselves to the sketch that served as the kickoff for the third season of “Elite”, the series that takes place in a high school for young billionaires.
Meanwhile, “La casa de papel” not only included an Argentine character for its last two seasons, but also repeated the trick of advertising with a local flavor. Playing with the name of Palermo, the new character that Rodrigo de la Serna would play, the local advertisement included the most famous namesake: Martín Palermo, the former Boca strikerwas the main character dressed in the characteristic red jumpsuit and the mask of Salvador Dali.
Even a local series, “Puerta 7”, appealed to the same resource in 2020. The strip starring Esteban Lamothe and Dolores Fonzi revolved around the problem of the barrabravas. The summoned was Diego Armando Maradona, who not only lent his image, but also paraphrased the famous speech of his dismissal party during the publicity, that of “the ball does not stain”.
In times when content is more globalized than ever, companies have understood that even if a product is successful in one country, to make it land in another it is necessary to bring it closer and update it to this new audience. In Argentina, the formula is made up of mixing that fiction with daily reality. From politics to the medieval fantasy world of “Game of Dragons”, everyone can be linked to our reality and that is the vehicle to achieve fanaticism and audience loyalty.
