Netflix
Client: Netflix
Product: Gaming Event
Title: Save Veldt: Expanding the Rebel Moon Universe
Media: Tommy
Country: Germany
Date Of Campaign: 14/01/24
Background: OBJECTIVE: DRIVING TRUE CULTURAL IMPACT Audience attention is a limited resource in the film industry, between the hyper-competitive streaming services and endless supply of entertainment, films struggle to stand out. When launching their epic Sci-Fi franchise ‘Rebel Moon’, Netflix needed to do more than get viewers - they needed fans. Netflix Germany needed a community-led approach to expand their fanbase and unlock lasting value for the IP. Those who enjoyed gaming were identified as the best opportunity to celebrate this IP and be lasting advocates for the franchise - particularly with the upcoming second installment. They wanted to achieve these core objectives with the campaign: - Drive true cultural impact for Rebel Moon- Build buzz for the upcoming films- Bring the visually-stunning cinematic universe to fans in a disruptive wayINSIGHTS: TAKING A DISTINCTIVE APPROACHTapping into the explorative nature of science fiction, we wanted to find a gateway for fans to experience Rebel Moon in a new way. When deciding that gateway for German audiences we found:1 - 40% of Germans viewed gaming livestreams in 20222 - Sci-Fi offers an escape, immersing fans in new worlds.3 - Surprising popularity of farming games.4 - Social buzz around Rebel Moon’s trailer, focused on its thrilling visuals.We took these learnings, context from the film, and worked through our proprietary distinctiveness framework to come up with a unique idea that suited Netflix's groundbreaking style. The audience was primed for an expansion of the cinematic universe through a new source of entertainment. Giving back to the gaming community in a way that felt native to our audience, it would build an authentic connection between Netflix & fans.
Idea: STRATEGY: EXPANDING THE CINEMATIC UNIVERSEWhile Rebel Moon is set in a fictional galaxy ruled by ‘the Motherworld’, we found a way to bring the story back down to earth. The first 40-minutes shows military leader (Admiral Noble) invading the farming colony of Veldt, demanding an impossible amount of grain to feed his travelling army. While the film then follows Kora, citizen of Veldt, leaving to recruit warriors to make a stand against the Imperium - we saw an opening to tell the story of the farmers left behind. Resonating with our rural audience base in a more authentic way, we wanted to rebuild the challenge left to the farmers of Veldt as a game but in a world familiar and popular with our audience.Where would we do this? Global cult phenomenon Farming Simulator 22… obviously!Connecting the far-off world of Veldt with rural Germany, we built a modded-map complete with the film’s stunning visuals to immerse our audience in the Rebel Moon universe. Popular with German audiences, Farming Simulator racked up millions of viewing hours every year on Twitch, making it the perfect fit.IDEA: CREATING THE GREATEST FARMING CROSSOVER IN ENTERTAINMENT HISTORYThis wasn’t just about creating a game. We wanted to make a cross-over community moment connecting and engaging both film and gaming fans.To create a landmark launch that would catch the attention of potential new viewers, we planned a thrilling 3-hour live streamed event on Twitch. The event would see farming heroes our audience knew and loved picking up where Veldt’s story left off. This time they’d be playing out the story within a downloadable game which fans could explore after the event. The streamers carefully selected included 9 big-personality gaming influencers in Germany. A mix of experts & novices, the team even included a real farmer & a TV game show host; collectively amassing over 1 million followers on Twitch providing a huge reach for Netflix.The film’s relevance was weaved throughout the event, beginning with all streamers watching the trailer. Within the game, we recreated familiar characters and made the world as visually accurate as possible. The event closed with the second film’s trailer, drumming up excitement. EXECUTION: SAVING VELDT Facing a critical audience, we knew the map had to seamlessly blend Veldt with Farming Simulator. Our exceptionally detailed design elements helped to achieve this, and for implementation we brought in the best - official modding partners Creative Mesh. Using a combination of VFX assets of Veldt, native Farming Simulator 22 features, custom Rebel Moon themed UI, and bespoke never-seen-in-Farming-Sim-before gameplay/tool, the map exceeded expectations. To further immerse the audience, even the sound design featured a mixture of audio clips from the movie and excerpts from the soundtrack.The result was a stunningly crafted world all built within 5-weeks.The next phase was about introducing the game to our audience. The ‘Save Veldt’ event targeted both those unfamiliar with Farming Simulator as well as the existing fans. New audiences were reached through a highly targeted paid media campaign. Captivating ads ran across Twitch’s home screen and in-feed ads. Outside of this, we had Zack Snyder issue a call to arms on X before dropping the link to the livestream event bringing his 1.4m followers as well.To include existing fan bases, we infiltrated our streamers Twitch chats in the days before the event. Harnessing ‘Admiral Noble’ to send threatening messages about the upcoming challenge. Our rebel farmers posted across their social channels to drive more viewers and excitement. The event itself had our rebel farmers spawn into the Veldt Farming Simulator map, immersing the streamer and viewers. Guided by our Admiral Noble, the streamers were taken through a time-sensitive harvesting challenge.Planned across three ‘acts’, the storyline introduced a mix of jeopardies, including a dust storm to blur their vision and cosmic radiation to reverse their controls. We later shared surprise power-ups of farming machinery to boost their dampened spirits. To close the event, we organised for 3 ‘regular’ streamers to ‘raid’ the stream to assist our heroes. Despite having smaller follower counts, we wanted the audience to feel like everyone had a role to play. From the biggest stars to the unsung heroes - everyone was a part of this new community. Encouraging their rebel spirits, we ran polls throughout asking what viewers would’ve done, integrating them into the conversation. As the stream ended, the part 2 trailer played, and the audience were surprised with a chance to download the Veldt map to play on Farming Simulator themselves! A gift for the gaming community.
Results: Since launching, more than 4,000 fans downloaded the game, joining the harvest to save Veldt.Our Twitch launch event consistently retained over 10,000 viewers steadily across a 3-hour stream with a 85% Positive Sentiment and conversations peaking around Rebel Moon 2.In total, the launch event generated a watch time of 1,620,000 minutes. Equivalent to streaming the movie over 12,000 times.Post-event, we saw/are seeing more and more fans uploading content playing the game across Twitch and YouTube. Generating a further 400,000 views - and counting!Fans even featured the Twitch event’s story on the world’s largest fandom wiki platform - fandom wiki - plus the official Farming Simulator Discord channel, and on X.Becoming ingrained in the fan culture, the game has cemented itself in the cinematic universe. Allowing fans to play out a part in the story has made them a part of the Rebel Moon franchise’s history. Delivering on the campaign’s original goals, we were able to unlock a highly-engaged and loyal community, bridging Part 1 & 2 of the Rebel Moon franchise. ‘Save Veldt’ proved that when brands create immersive experiences for their communities in a meaningful way, they can truly connect themselves within pop culture, drawing in new fans they’d have otherwise never reached.
