NETFLIX’s Squid Game is the most-watched series to launch on the streaming service. For Halloween, our challenge was to generate mass awareness and integrate the show into local culture.
NETFLIX wanted to ‘own’ Halloween with Squid Game. So we recreated the show’s most iconic game, ‘Red Light Green Light’ and invited Aussie fans to come out and play.
We brought the most haunting and recognisable Squid Game character to life as a fully animatronic 15-foot, 3.5 ton doll, and placed it in front of Australia’s most iconic setting, the Sydney Opera House.
We dropped cryptic invitations around the city, inviting Sydneysiders to come out and play. Fans came in the thousands, ready to turn their Halloween nightmare into reality.
Key influencers were sent special DM packs with a Squid Game costume, infamous honeycomb lollipops and an invitation to join the game.
The activation only lasted four days but grabbed the attention of the world.
Over just one weekend, over 100,000 Australian Squid Game fans visited the activation in its idyllic location, played the game and shared it all over social media, making it the most-talked-about topic over Halloween.
The stunt also gained the attention of national and international media, reaching over 477.5M impressions worldwide and earning over $11.72M in media value.
Squid Game was a cultural phenomena. In a matter of days became the #1 NETFLIX show in Australia. It inspired TikTok challenges and cultural debate--but it was the interest in the Squid game costumes that caught our attention.
Squid Game accounted for one-third of the top 11 most popular costume searches. We knew if we activated on Halloween we could capitalise on this groundswell.
So with under three weeks to Halloween we brought the most recognisable icon from Squid Game to life in front of Australia’s most iconic setting, unexpectedly on Halloween eve.
Targeting 18-34 year old ‘Entertainment Escapists’ and Halloween fans emerging from lockdown.