Why is this work relevant for PR?

International titles, no matter how big, need to establish relevance to become popular in India – and nothing drives relevance better than experience. Viewers need to relate with the content/ characters/ story for success, wherein widespread conversations and popularity gets them hooked. Red Notice, with its stellar (and popular in India) cast and existing International mileage, had potential to dent pop culture. The Red Notice Shop hit multiple birds with a stone – let people experience the movie for themselves, which drove organic engagement, visibility, impact, and conversations (online + offline), ultimately building permanent pop-culture equity for Red Notice.

Background

Netflix is a leading OTT streaming platform known for creating and curating powerful, entertaining content for people globally. Moreover, Netflix has been in the digital limelight in India since the past couple of years, shaping and driving conversations not just for their unique content roster, but also the larger-than-life impact they create with their titles. Every big release strives to tap into the expectations of Indians who’re culturally conditioned to Bollywood’s idea of bigness – while staying true to their brand ethos. So to promote Red Notice, the biggest heist movie in Netflix history starring Ryan Reynolds, Dwayne Johnson and Gal Gadot, Netflix wanted to weave together a truly memorable narrative. And create conversations by making a pop culture worthy moment come to life.

Describe the creative idea (20% of vote)

To promote the biggest and slickest heist movie of the year, we didn’t want to create just another conventional movie marketing campaign. Piggybacking on the steadily increasing buzz around Red Notice, we wanted to tap into the rising curiosity of fans. We didn’t just want them to go watch our heist flick, we wanted them to experience first-hand, the adrenaline rush of a heist. So, we created a pop-up shop with absolutely droolworthy items for the taking, that people could have for FREE. But with a catch. They had to steal them, without getting caught.

Describe the PR strategy (30% of vote)

Insight: • Receding COVID infections saw surge in revenge travel, revenge shopping and other live experiences, signalling digital fatigue - so much that tickets to concerts have sold out in minutes • Also, it’s a universal fact that passionate viewers fantasize about enacting their favourite characters or plots in a film. So, we created an unexpected opportunity to experience Red Notice before watching it - where stealers were keepers. We wanted the experience to leave an indelible mark, lodging Netflix and Red Notice in the memory of fans for good. Key Message: Experience the Red Notice Heist before streaming Target Audience: Drive intrigue via an accessible experience, for: • Late-movers: actively seek and/or respond to established trends • On-the-fence viewers: those with niche and/or specific content preferences, especially on Netflix • Non-viewers: other OTT streaming/content platform viewers • Legacy fans: existing fan equity of Dwayne Johnson, Gal Gadot, Ryan Reynolds

Describe the PR execution (20% of vote)

Event set-up: The Shop was brought alive in a 3000 sq. ft. retail space in one of Mumbai’s biggest malls, Phoenix Palladium. The space was guarded with lasers, sensors, secret codes, CCTV cameras, alarms, and security associated with Heist movies. Prizes included goodies, tech delights, movie merchandise and most importantly – three precious gold Faberge eggs with exclusive rewards inside. Announcement promo: To introduce the shop to fans, a promo was created and shared far and wide by famous Bollywood villains, musicians, comedians and an army of influencers. Announcement amplification: We even created a series of fun ‘How to steal’ tutorials with them to create intrigue. Event visibility: On-ground, thousands of fans, and celebrities tried their hands at stealing, generating hours of fun footage which we repackaged into slick, short heist edits to share on social daily.

List the results (30% of vote)

With 100k+ participants stealing goodies worth INR 5.5 million in just 36 hours, the Red Notice Shop became Netflix’s most participated on-ground event globally. Generating 100k+ organic conversations (referrals & reactions), 10k+ tweets, 230+ stories from online publications and UGC content, the shop left an indelible mark online driving 19 Million+ impressions on Instagram in just 3 days. It was celebrated by Indian publications (CNN-News 18, ET Times, Financial Express and Miss Malini) and International publications (Campaign Brief Asia, LBB India & APAC) garnering earned media worth INR 10 Million. Red Notice saw a 25% viewership bump during the event weekend itself! And the shop gained such fame that it directly drove 35% of conversations around the movie, making it the only Global title to trend in India’s ‘Top 10’ list for 10+ weeks.