Netflix’s Blood & Water had everything a YA fan could want: a vibrant world full of  melodrama and intrigue, a soundtrack that felt like it came from the future, and a young, diverse cast eager to make their mark. 

What it needed, however, was visibility – with no established IP or existing fanbases to lean on, Netflix knew that they’d need to do something big to get the show on the right people’s radars. We agreed – and we knew just what to do.

If you want to earn the trust of YA audiences, you’ve got to speak their language - and in the case of Blood and Water’s audience, that language was the internet. So we designed a rich, nuanced social campaign anchored in a theme the show explored to great effect: gossip.

We started by partnering with hyper-relevant influencers – people whose co-signs would feel less like brand integrations and more like two young people talking about each other – to get the conversation started. 

We put all the buzz into a social-forward trailer which gave the cast a star turn. From there, it was an all-out social media blitz as we released character portraits and gave talent unique cuts and Stories to share with their audiences. To keep the show’s momentum going after it dropped, we held an After-School Special roundtable with the cast later that weekend. 

We knew we’d struck a nerve when #BloodAndWater organically jumped to the top of South Africa’s Twitter trends at premiere. Our campaign helped Blood & Water become a #1 show for Netflix in over 30 countries and led Blood & Water to be Netflix SA’s first show to get a second season.