In Argentina, Netflix was facing the challenge of capturing the attention of tweens for its new series, Cielo Grande. After much data analysis and consumer research, we came to the conclusion that none of the media outlets that Netflix typically uses to advertise new series was going to be effective enough in reaching the target audience. We were tasked to develop a much more direct and immersive communication strategy that hits the spot, and eventually found that Roblox is the most popular platform (even above YouTube) among tweens. So, our objective was to create the first-ever metaverse experience for Netflix users in LATAM.
We built an immersive virtual experience by recreating the plot of the new Netflix Teen Series Cielo Grande in a metaverse map in Roblox. On this map, tweens could participate in the same wakeboard tournament as in the series, do karaoke with other users, and even join a Meet & Greet with the cast from the Cielo Grande series. But the most exciting part of the experience was that users were tasked to solve the main mystery of the plot and find a character in Roblox who they are unable to find in the series. By creating this experience to promote the new Netflix series, we blurred the lines between advertising, gaming and TV.
The strategy was to include the audience directly in the fictional story by giving them the possibility to solve the mystery that the series itself couldn’t. For this, we resorted to exhaustive netnographic research to eventually discover Roblox and the metaverse as the best partners in creating an unparalleled virtual experience. The new digital landscape both allows us to be more relevant to our target audience of tweens and encourages interactions between users. Our intention was to enable tweens to develop solid connections with a new series and characters by getting to know them through a virtual platform that they can handle like no other.
In only five weeks, we created a whole new metaverse map on Roblox. This map not only included the main locations from the Cielo Grande series—a karaoke bar, a wakeboarding beach and cabins in the woods—but also a main mystery created exclusively for users to solve. In this order, we created over +15 NPC’s, +150 different pieces of dialogues, 8 different regions on the map, and 12 mini-mysteries that led users to new clues. This map is available in more than 20 countries.
- Our budget was less than USD 100k.
- We produced the experience in 5 weeks, even though this typically takes 3 months.
- Our metaverse experience on Roblox was accompanied by social media content (Cielo Grande’s Youtube and @CheNetflix on instagram). In just two weeks, our assets accumulated:
3,290,959 Views
1,461,444 Reach
2,178,310 Impressions
58,457 Interactions
- Our experience reached 107,068 total visits in the first month on Roblox, with a 10.41 avg. visit length (minutes)—a great ratio for the segment.
- Cielo Grande’s Roblox Experience reached over 100k visits, positioning itself among the 0.2% of total experiences—which is even more impactful considering that Argentina’s user base is below 24% of the global total.
- Our approval rate was always 90%, which is hard to maintain.
- The gamified Meet & Greet session had reached its full capacity in less than 1 minute.
- Cielo Grande became the first Teen Series to enter Netflix National Top10: #6.