Netflix: advert-body-1 by Battery

LA-based agency Battery has created a new global campaign for Netflix to promote Chris Rock’s stand-up comedy special, “Tamborine,” a Netflix Original that makes its debut on the streaming site on Valentine’s Day (2/14).

The spot opens on a sleek black set with six white tambourines taking center stage, as if they are floating. A slow beat picks up, almost heartbeat-like. One by one the tambourines start reacting. Like dominos, the beat carries from one tambourine to the next. The pacing and mood intensifies with every hit, until the rhythm catches the last tambourine at the crescendo. The tambourines drop to the floor together and the camera cuts to one tambourine that lands perfectly on the ground to reveal the “O” in Rock’s name.

The integrated effort launched on 2/3 with a cryptic teaser campaign that included a :30 TV spot during Saturday Night Live, similar to the “reveal” spot described above except with no mention of Rock. Similarly, mysterious billboards showed a lone tambourine against a black background that would later be revealed as the “O” in Rock’s name. Netflix also looked to utilize a number of their social channels to keep its audience guessing what these cryptic films meant, as they rolled out a number of social posts incorporating tambourines in the hands of Netflix Original characters (Narcos, The Crown, Big Mouth, Orange is the New Black).

Rock’s stand-up special covers a wide array of topics including his recent divorce. Fittingly, the campaign creative is both a nod to the Prince song, “Tamborine” (which plays during the special) as well as a reference to a joke featured in the special where Rock states that sometimes in a relationship you have to play various instruments.

Airing on Valentine’s day, “Tamborine” is one of the year’s top releases for Netflix’s Comedy arm. Battery was also the agency behind last year’s acclaimed “Netflix is a Joke” campaign that touted the brand’s stellar lineup of stand-up comedians.