Why is this work relevant for Social & Influencer?

Millions of fans love Money Heist for its smart plot, unexpected twists and relatable characters. It’s one of the most pirated shows in Indonesia, so we knew they’d try to find illegal ways to watch the final season ahead of the release. To stay 10 steps ahead of them—just like the Professor would—we created our own illegal streaming site with all the episodes, which we called “Series For All”. We gave them a taste of the first episode, which, in true Money Heist fashion, had an unexpected twist at the end. Fans then used the site to prank their friends!

Background

Money Heist is one of Indonesia’s most well-loved shows on Netflix. While it may be the show’s last season, it’s actually Netflix’s first time marketing Money Heist in such a big way, so that passionate Indonesian fans would have a moment to celebrate it. The brief was to create a movement that unifies the fans, and make the launch of Money Heist’s final season the biggest event of the year in Indonesia. We were tasked to launch a campaign that would create conversations about this highly anticipated season among fans, to get non-fans feel like they’re missing out on something big.

Describe the creative idea (30% of vote)

Being one of the most pirated shows in Indonesia, we knew fans would find ways to stream the final season of Money Heist illegally. So we created our own illegal streaming site with all the episodes, which we called “Series For All”. Fans thinking they hit the jackpot were given an unexpected twist when they watched the first episode. Realising that this was a stunt by the 'Professor and his gang', they then shared the streaming link to their friends to prank them! What was a typically a serious message about encouraging subscription, not pirating was given a Money Heist twist.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

We’re speaking to young and connected Indonesians living in Jakarta. Fans love the show because of its wider themes of resistance, rebellion and survival. They’ve grown to become protective of the characters, and are quick to react to anything Money Heist related. We wanted to drive subscriptions to Netflix using Money Heist and with this being one of the most pirated shows in Indonesia, we felt this was a ripe opportunity for the ‘Professor’ to address. We needed to make this feel real, so the idea of creating an illegal streaming site just for Money Heist episodes to wrap our message of ‘subscribe, don’t pirate’ was born.

Describe the execution (20% of vote)

RICK-ROLLING THE FANS After the first two minutes of the first episode, we made them the butt of the joke by interrupting it with the show’s characters laughing, and saying, “Come on… you didn’t think it was going to be that easy?” MAKING IT MORE LEGITIMATELY ILLEGITIMATE Flashing banners, Comic Sans, clashing colours… we did it all. We also bought multiple domains and included search terms that are typically used to find illegal streaming sites. We even seeded it on Twitter through the use of “spam bots” to get more eyeballs on our site… because nothing spells “illegal” more than spam bots. Fans who were tricked then tried tricking their friends as well by sharing the link! BRAND PARTNERS HOPPED ON THE BANDWAGON GoPay saw an opportunity, and joined in by plastering ads on our site to inform Indonesian fans that they can now subscribe to Netflix through their app.

List the results (30% of vote)

+270K users +565K page views +1.5M event counts 25M impressions 305K site visits 65.92% engagement rate 17.29% CTR on search

Please tell us about the social behaviour that inspired the work

Being one of the most pirated shows in Indonesia, we knew fans would find ways to stream the final season of Money Heist illegally. So we created our own illegal streaming site with all the episodes, which we called “Series For All”. Fans thinking they hit the jackpot were given an unexpected twist when they watched the first episode. Realising that this was a stunt by the 'Professor and his gang', they then shared the streaming link to their friends to prank them! What was a typically a serious message about encouraging subscription, not pirating was given a Money Heist twist.