Netflix | Dark S3
In 2020 I explored the other side of the client fence as a creative marking manager at Netflix. My baptism of fire was the campaign development for the final season of the sci-fi time-travel hitshow Dark. Part client, part creative, together with a number of agencies and freelancers, I co-conceived, managed and executed the campaign across wide number of on- and offline channels.
The campaign was based on a two-tier strategy, pushing both the third and final season and the three-season franchise as a whole. With a super fanatic fanbase, the challenge was to walk the tightrope between revealing just enough to get people excited, but not enough as to spoil the ending.
Client: Me @ Netflix
We kicked off the excitement with three leaked stills that revealed the third season’s parallel worlds without giving any further context. The keen observer would notice that these scenes from previous seasons were now mirrored.
Next, we upped the ante with a date announcement for the release of season 3. After season 2, DARK fans had questions. Lots of questions. The date announcement reassured them those questions were going to be answered on the 27th of June 2020. Which also happened to be the day of the apocalypse on the show.
28 Days before the show launched, we updated the existing site with an easter-egged filled image of Peter Paul Rubens Fall of the Damned. The painting is featured prominently throughout the show.
Then we dropped the main trailer that revealed the third season’s parallel universes in more detail. Picking up where season 2 left off, taking the viewer down the rabbit hole of mirrored worlds filled with mysterious new characters.
One week after the main trailer and a week before launch, we released the franchise trailer that told the full DARK story across the show’s three seasons.
We developed three key art variations; one for season 3, one for the full franchise and one alternative social version.
When the third season aired, we released a comprehensive website meant to guide viewers through the complexities of the show and its characters.
Through the use of clever spoiler filters, viewers were never presented with information they weren’t ready to see yet.
The site ended up winning a Eurobest Grand Prix Digital Craft, a bronze Cannes Lion for Digital Craft and the Awwwards Site of the Year - viewers’ choice.
Check it out here.
