Netflix made a splash last year with the prison-comedy “Orange is the New Black.” The service released the entire season at one time, and audiences and critics around the country ate it up. Despite high ratings, Netflix has not been content to rest on their laurels as the show continues. To prepare audiences for season two of OitNB, Netflix launched an all-out effort with an incredibly well executed integrated marketing campaign. The campaign utilizes unified story elements told across multiple channels. Here are five of the best tactics from the campaign.
Integrated Marketing Tactics Utilized by “Orange is the New Black”
Flappy Bird Clone “Feisty Chicken”
Remember “Flappy Bird” and all of the time you wasted playing it? To promote season two of “Orange is the New Black,” Netflix created a clone of “Flappy Bird” that includes the legendary chicken from season one of the show in the titular role. This kind of interactive marketing has been growing in popularity for a while and is an excellent way to engage and delight an audience.
Visiting Hours
Last year, shortly after releasing season one, Netflix launched “Visiting Hours” in which fans were able to interact directly with the stars and creators of “Orange is the New Black” using the hashtag #AskOrange. By periodically holding these Twitter Q+A sessions, OitNB was able to maintain interest in season one of the show while beginning to build interest for season two.
Orange is the New App
“Orange is the New Black” season two has also invaded your smartphone with the aptly named “Orange is the New App.” The mobile application allows you to share images via various social networks from the show with your friends that you can customize with your own messages. The app is, essentially, an OitNB meme generator. The app is essentially a clever way for Netflix to get its fans to generate viral content for them. As an added bonus, it gives fans more of a sense of ownership of the show.
#OnWednesdaysWeWearOrange
In addition to the #AskOrange hashtag, OitNB has also utilized the #OnWednesdaysWeWearOrange hashtag to allow fans to share content and engage with each other via Twitter, Instagram and other social outlets. While #AskOrange allows fans to directly interact with the stars of the show, #OnWednesdaysWeWearOrange allows fans to interact with each other.
Images Highlighting Characters
Whenever critics praise “Orange is the New Black,” they often mention the strength of the characters on the show. To highlight this, OitNB has created a ton of distinct, shareable image content featuring everyone from Piper to Red to Crazy Eyes.
By creating a strong, integrated marketing campaign, Netflix has managed to turn a show that was already a winner into an even bigger one.
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