Tag: TV Series


Australia — Netflix’s popular sci-fi horror drama, Stranger Things, has caused a stir in the global consciousness. The 80s themed hit drama series has recently aired its fourth season, and alongside this, Netflix has created a portal to connect the audiences with a popular element of the show; the Upside Down.

Ever since 1983, when a test subject in a Hawkins, Indiana lab named Eleven ripped open a portal between Hawkins and the Upside Down, a terrifying alternate dimension beneath the surface of this small town. Now similar rifts have been opening up in the most unexpected places. In Bondi Beach, Australia, beachgoers have been baffled by otherwordly rift that sprung up on the sandy shores.

On the morning of May 27 on the iconic Australian beach, a mysterious and forbidding gateway to an alternate dimension opened up on the golden sands to the shock of onlookers. The large gaping portal appeared overnight, complete with deep vines and a glowing red core. Scientists in hazmat patrolled the area while lifeguards set up a safe perimeter around the scene.

In celebration of the return of Stranger Things, similar rifts in iconic landmarks all around the world also sprung up. Popular sites where similar demonstrations sprung up included the Empire State Building in New York City; the Gateway of India in Mumbai; Menara Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia; Cologne Media Park in Germany; and XBox Plaza in Downtown Los Angeles.

Eleven and her friends have captured the audience’s imaginations from the very beginning and Netflix loves putting fans inside the story, taking them through the Upside Down and into an alternate reality.

Manila, Philippines – Following the success of the hit South Korean TV series Squid Game, a new thriller series has been released by popular streaming service Netflix, titled All Of Us Are Dead, in January this year. The series, based on the webtoon Now At Our School, is a coming-of-age thriller series that revolves around the story of high school students who are caught up in a zombie infection in their school, forcing them to improvise school equipment to protect themselves from a hoard of zombies.

With the rising popularity of said series, as well as banking on the previous success of several South Korean TV series on the platform, Netflix Philippines launched its very first local campaign for this year, with the aid of independent creative agency GIGIL.

In an exclusive interview with MARKETECH APAC, Jeano Cruz, creative director and head of social at GIGIL, stated that the underlying thought for this local campaign is through a mix of the series’ survival theme, light moods during the episodes, and the fact that the characters are going through their adolescence. For the agency, this allowed them to implement more comedy and romance themes in between the suspense and thrill of a zombie apocalypse story.

Moreover, Cruz told MARKETECH APAC that part of the creative process for this campaign is to bank on the emotional attachment among Filipino adults: nostalgia during their high school days.

“We believed every Filipino adult could relate to one another because of what they went through in their formative years: from being in a high school barkada (buddy/friend), to studying the same lessons in high school, to experiencing the same student lives everyone else was experiencing across the country,” he stated.

The first blow: ‘Knowledge is weapon’

One of the first brand activations Netflix Philippines did was releasing a 2-minute film, centred around the humour of utilising your school knowledge to survive in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. The twist? The film is done in retro 90s fashion, and delivered like old educational shows such as ABS-CBN’s ‘Sineskwela’ that discussed science-related topics catered to kids.

Another interesting facet utilised in the film is the host of said film, a supposed cameo of the late Ka Ernie Baron, a well-beloved Filipino TV presenter, weatherman, and inventor. He is known for his show Knowledge Power, where he discusses educational topics about science, health, history among others.

The film, aptly called Knowledge is Weapon, begs the question of why is it that when we were in high school, we were taught concepts that we never really needed in everyday life. Turns out, it was all in ‘preparation’ for any impending zombie apocalypse.

“In back and forth sequences between All Of Us Are Dead and the program, we’re shown the things we can do to plan an effective survival strategy during this outbreak. Whether that may be using a diorama to plan an exit route, growing a mung bean to have a direct food supply, or using the ‘maglalatik’ dance (a Filipino folk dance) to effectively distract a zombie from using our crush as a meal—the application of our knowledge goes beyond the four walls of a classroom,” Cruz noted.

As part of that film activation, GIGIL’s campaign for Netflix Philippines was also accompanied by TikTok influencers demonstrating how they would apply their own high school learnings in a zombie apocalypse, a ZSAT or the Zombie Survival Assessment Test which tested the population’s survivability by how well they remembered high school lessons in the context of a zombie invasion, and an actual Zombie Survival Kit using only school supplies.

The second blow: Memeifying through billboard activations

Another facet of the All of Us Are Dead local campaign is through billboards promoting the series. The twist? GIGIL transformed the usual billboards that accompany a Netflix Philippines launch into meme billboards that carry with it a ‘core memory’ for every Filipino who went through high school.

Cruz further told MARKETECH APAC that they are always looking for ways to help their clients achieve their objectives. He added that their clients wanted All Of Us Are Dead to penetrate pop culture through executions that connect with audiences and help the title be talked about for days even after the series release on the streaming platform.

“It’s the first time anyone brand’s done this in the country. Our clients at Netflix allowed a language that was born online, memes, to live in the real world through their billboards nationwide. This allowed their All Of Us Are Dead campaign to connect to even more people who see these billboards everyday, and create a virtuous cycle where photos of the billboard are uploaded to social media and then people online talk about them more,” Cruz stated.

He further explains, “By using memes as billboards for the first time, we connected to Filipino audiences nationwide on a new emotional level because we’ve tapped into their ‘core memories’ about their high school lives.”

Speaking about their general work relationship with Netflix, Cruz noted, “We love working with our clients Daphne Ng, Cass Wong, and especially Stef Pajarito, a fellow Filipino at Netflix, who always pushes us to create never-been-done-before marketing campaigns in the Philippines that allow the Netflix brand to connect with Filipino audiences better. They are always bold in their directions and are collaborative with the agency in creating ideas that might otherwise be rejected in other companies. He would always tell us that sometimes our ideas are so stupid that’s why he loves it, and it’s his spirit that has given birth to viral campaigns by GIGIL for Netflix.”

Some of GIGIL’s past work for Netflix Philippines included promotions for series such as Trese, Squid Game, DOTA, To All The Boys I Loved Before, Red Notice, among others.

Sydney, Australia – Creative agency Paper Moose’s latest ad pitch depicting the theme of encouraging the public to get vaccinated against COVID-19 has won against Analogue Folk with a score 4-0 in favor of Paper Moose, in the Australian TV series ‘Gruen’, following the series’ return, as featured on the program segment ‘The Pitch’

‘Gruen’ is an Australian TV series currently airing on the Australian channel ABC which focuses on advertising. Part of that TV series is the segment ‘The Pitch’, where two competing marketing or advertising companies create an advertisement for an ‘unsellable’ product.

On the new ‘The Pitch’ segment, both agencies were asked to create an advertisement encouraging Australians to get vaccinated against COVID-19, a topic that dominated the show.

For Analogue Folk’s part, they produced an ad asking why people ignore those they care about, but listen to strangers on the internet spreading misinformation. However, Paper Moose’s ad utilized a high-pressure situation to explore the current issue of skepticism towards COVID-19 vaccinations, where in fact millions of lives currently depend on it.

The ad depicted a man having an allergic reaction but asking questions about the EpiPen he is being administered as he struggles. The ad then ends with a message ‘science has our back’ and to get the vax.

Commenting on the ad execution, ‘Gruen’ panelist and Australian businessman Russel Howcroft stated, “The first commercial from Analogue Folk, I think that was really well made. However, the insight from Paper Moose, in particular the idea that the brand matters, when there’s a bigger thing at play, it really appealed to me enormously.”

Fellow ‘Gruen’ panelist Sunita Gloster also agreed, stating that ‘[Paper Moose’s ad] felt more cohesive and I think it addressed one of the barriers in a way that didn’t get your back up.”

Speaking as well in agreement with Paper Moose’s ad execution, panelist Todd Sampson commented, “I think there was one clear winner there, and it won. I thought that to take one of the big concerns that anti-vaxxers have, and then to dramatize it in that way – by the way I thought they could have gone serious or funny with it, both would have been powerful – I thought the second one [Paper Moose] was much better.”

This is the third season in a row that Paper Moose has taken victory, with a draw the year before.

Manila, Philippines – A well-known occult classic in modern Filipino literature, and dark fantasy and crime horror comic series ‘Trese’ received more hype when streaming platform Netflix announced it as part of a new original series stemming from Asia on 8 November, 2018. Originally penned by Budjette Tan and illustrated by Kajo Baldisimo, the series debuted last 11 June, with six episodes officially released on the streaming platform.

The anime-influenced TV series follows the story of Alexandra Trese, a healer-warrior who plays the role of a mitigator between the real world and the supernatural one. She is often summoned by the police to solve paranormal cases within Manila, the capital of the Philippines. Throughout the series, Trese faces various entities and challenges within the paranormal world, all of which are based on Philippine paranormal folklore.

On the days leading to the debut, the Philippine arm of Netflix worked constantly on a slew of campaigns to promote the series, all embodying the paranormal theme that awaits for newly-found fans and viewers to enjoy.

‘Vandalized’ by the supernatural?

On 6 June, Netflix Philippines posted several photos on their social media pages, begging the question ‘What kind of monster would do this?’, to which the pictures depicted the promotional banners and billboards for ‘Trese’ to be seemingly destroyed and vandalized with phrases such as “Siyudad namin ito! Layas!” (This is our city! Get out!). Even the digital out-of-home advertising (DOOH) for ‘Trese’ also ‘glitched’, bearing the aforementioned phrases. 

Soon, netizens took notice of the pictures, and noted various instances across the country, from Metro Manila, Batangas, Cebu, and Davao.

https://twitter.com/nlprlj/status/1401589774910066688

Said ‘vandalism’ act is one of the marketing ploys created by local-based independent creative agency GIGIL, who played upon the story’s lore of monsters who are constantly taking over key cities in the fictional background of the storyline.

“Our billboards all over the country started getting vandalized, apparently protesting Trese’s arrival. Social media, and the actual media, went into a frenzy. We turned Trese into a huge national moment, and ultimately giving this for Pinoy – by Pinoy – about Pinoy title the recognition it deserves, all in time for Independence Day weekend,” said Stef Pajarito, country marketing manager at Netflix Philippines, on his LinkedIn post.

The following day, 7 June, Netflix Philippines ‘unveiled’ the culprits of the ‘vandalism’ by sharing videos which are purportedly ‘shared’ by organic social media accounts. The videos ranged from a ‘tiyanak’ (a Filipino mythological vampire creature that takes the form of a child or toddler) or a ‘manananggal’ (a Filipino vampirical creature taking the form of a winged creature, in which the upper torso is only present). Turns out, said ‘videos’ were also produced by GIGIL for Netflix Philippines.

A ‘not-so-live’ concert experience

The primary soundtrack of ‘Trese’ titled ‘Paagi’ was composed by well-known Filipino indie pop band Up Dharma Down or more known as UDD, and popular for tracks such as ‘Tadhana’, ‘Oo’, and ‘Hiwaga’. And in tribute to the upcoming debut of the first episode of ‘Trese’, Netflix Philippines and GIGIL collaborated in launching a virtual concert experience, which was streamed exactly thirteen minutes before the debut.

Due to the existing protocols in the country regarding large-scale gatherings, the virtual concert campaign was launched with the premise that audience members upload their videos on the website tresenotaliveconcert.com. The twist on this campaign is that the submitted videos are recorded using the Instagram filter provided by the QR code on site, which transforms the videos into ‘ghost-like’ edits, an allude to the paranormal nature of the ‘Trese’ series.

The ABS-CBN, BusinessWorld, and The Philippine Star campaign tribute

One of the well-known fictional organizations in the ‘Trese’ franchise is the media network ABC-ZNN, which is a play on the real counterpart, Philippine media conglomerate ABS-CBN.

On 11 June, Netflix Philippines launched another marketing stunt campaign that seemingly plays on the incident that ‘Trese has taken over ABS-CBN’. In the pictures, the facade of the ABS-CBN Broadcasting Center was draped with the logo of the ABC-ZNN, covering the metallic logo of ABS-CBN which is prominent in the building.

The same was also done with the facade of ABS-CBN’s ELJ Communications Center in Quezon City, which also shone the words ‘TRESE’ spelled by the window lights, as another tribute for the debut episode of ‘Trese’.

Other media outlets also showed their support for ‘Trese’, with broadsheet dailies BusinessWorld and Philippine Star publishing a front-page report narrating an incident of a ‘dead white lady’ or a well-known paranormal entity in Philippine horror who are commonly wandering souls, on Balete Drive, a well-known street in the Philippines to which the tale of the ‘white lady’ is more popular. Said fictional newspaper story alludes to the first episode of ‘Trese’ where one of the main characters, a policeman by the name of Captain Guerrero, discovers the incident, and the first scene where Trese is first introduced to crack on the case.

‘The biggest campaign we’ve ever done’

Speaking about the execution of the project, GIGIL Senior Art Director, JR Bumanglag, stated that they knew from the very end of their briefing with the client that they wanted ‘something to pop out’, yet the challenge remains: how do you bring an animated series to ‘life’?

“We realized that, as ‘Trese’ is coming, everyone is excited. It’s a [series] that every Filipino can be proud of, there are places on the show that people [will recognize]. But as everyone was excited, Trese’s enemies on the show weren’t. So how do we give them that voice and how do we [make people feel like] the monsters were real? So we used the billboards as the venue to express that idea,” Bumanglag stated.

Meanwhile, Nova Novido, account manager at GIGIL, expressed the large scale of the project, noting it is the agency’s biggest project to date.

“I’m pretty sure that our team is very ‘gigil’ and we wouldn’t stop here. But there will be future campaigns that will hopefully be as grand or even grander as Trese. But at the moment [the Trese campaign] is one of the biggest things we’ve done [so far] and we’re really proud of it. The attention that this has caught in public, [and I’m proud] that our team was able to produce it for such a well-loved comic series and Netflix,” Novido stated.

In its first week, Trese made it to Top 1 position in Netflix Philippines, and Top 10 in 19 other countries on Netflix. The show practically took over Philippine social media, as it has been trending online and receiving overwhelming praises from fans. On Twitter alone, it was the Top Trending Topic for a week.