Summer of 85’ Mixtape
Role: Creative Strategy, Producer
THE BRIEF: Netflix was an elusive account for the Pandora sales department. During the creative team yearly Design-a-thon we were challenged to develop a 360 campaign that would entice the worlds most popular video streaming service to join the Pandora client base.
THE PROBLEM: At the time Netflix was highly focused on pushing its hit show Stranger Things. The popular series set in a fictional town during the 1980s had a wide appeal to Millennials and Gen-zers. With music tastes varying widely between the two demographics and no defined music soundscape for the show our typical approach to building the center point of our strategy around a single streaming radio destination that appeals to the brands sensibilities or ties to a central theme was far from straightforward.
THE INSIGHT: Stranger Things was not in need of a brand awareness campaign, it was at the peak of it’s moment in the cultural zeitgeist. What we identified this as a moment to tap into the super fans and bring them in closer. We discovered fans were deeply into the coming season’s teasers with blogs speculating on all the easter eggs to come. We knew our moment had to be immersive and build upon audiences anticipation. Additionally it had to culturally resonate with a wide age range and with our discovery that Netflix was right on the often noted 30 year cycle theory which studies the phenomenon of cultural patterns that repeat themselves in 30 year intervals placed the popularity of Stranger Things and its nods to 80s nostalgia to a younger audience on time like clockwork. Following the bread crumbs we dug deeper into the 80s revival to uncover other influences of the era that either recently reemerged or have been sustaining over time in popular fashion, and music.
THE WORK: To promote season 3 of the hit Netflix series Stranger Things Pandora created the Summer of 85 Mixtape, a virtual radio station broadcasting live from the fictional locale of the show Hawkins, Indiana. It was an audio immersive portal into the set Stranger Things world with plenty of fun teasers, easter eggs, and music for dedicated fans of the show. The station soundtrack focused on summer hits from 1985 and other songs that evoke the sound of music from the era including styles like chill wave, and new indie dance. The pitch was the internal agencies first win for Netflix and the resulting work broke engagement records on the platform.
