How Google's Stranger Things stunt unlocked brand magic

As excitement built over the past two months for the fifth season of Stranger Things, Netflix and Google have flipped the script on digital marketing with a clever, platform-native stunt. For the Season 5 Part 1 premiere on 26 November 2025, fans searching for the show were greeted with a playful surprise: Google’s entire results page transformed into a stylised homage to the show’s eerie parallel universe, "The Upside Down."

This interactive "Easter egg" sparked immediate discussion, highlighting a modern shift in experiential marketing toward embedded, surprising moments. 

Don't miss: Google goes upside down for global Stranger Things rollout

According to Jay Ng, founder of local creative agency So Don’t Bore, the tactic works because it “prioritises discovery over delivery.” He compares it to Spotify turning its playback bar into a glowing lightsaber for Star Wars fans. “In a world of skip-ad buttons, an Easter egg is something a user actually wants to find. It transforms a boring utility into a personal moment of delight.”

Ng points to the "speakeasy effect" as key to its virality. “Because the experience is hidden, finding it feels like a low-key flex. This creates social currency; people don't just experience it, they rush to share it,” he explained. “When you mess with a global tool such as Google Search, you aren't just buying ad space; you’re hijacking the daily routine of millions.”

On the creative front, Rick Kwan, executive creative director at Grey Hong Kong, sees it as a “dream pairing.” “It’s one of the most used search engines collaborating with one of the world’s most watched shows—a balance of art and science,” he said. “The success comes from feeding curiosity and answering it from both ends.”

However, not all experts view the campaign as unambiguously effective. Anant Deboor, chief strategy officer at VML Hong Kong, called it “a cool executional tactic” but questioned its impact on fan engagement. “Purely from a UX perspective, it could actually be a bit annoying,” he noted. “As a brand-oriented gimmick, it’s cool, but it really only adds to the Google brand, not to Stranger Things.”

For Deboor, a more character-centric approach would be more powerful. “Every long-running series has archetypal characters. Focusing on these allows brands to tell new stories, driving nostalgia while enhancing the cool factor,” he suggested.

Balancing nostalgia with innovation

This debate touches on a central challenge in modern marketing: balancing nostalgia with innovation. Another example of this balance is the collaboration between snack brand 甘大滋 and the blockbuster Back to the Past (尋秦記). By launching a modern, gamified digital experience that recreated the thrill of opening collectible card packs, the brand made its nostalgic IP relevant for a much younger audience.

So Don't Bore's Ng said the trick is to treat nostalgia as the story and innovation as the delivery." You don't need to choose between them because they serve different purposes. Longtime fans will always appreciate the nod to the lore, but new audiences need a reason to care. That reason is usually the 'cool factor' of the technology itself. If the delivery is interesting enough, it acts as a hook that drives new people to go back and explore the history for themselves."

He emphasised that modern marketing is shifting toward "micro-surprises." “Instead of forcing users onto new platforms, brands should hijack the muscle memory of the tools people already use daily. When you take a search bar someone uses 50 times a day and make it do something unexpected, you create a moment of genuine magic.”

The golden rule, according to Ng, is that "fun follows function." In the Google campaign, the flipped page remained fully functional and could be reverted with a single click. “By ensuring the ‘fun’ is just a layer on top of the utility, the experience feels like a clever break in reality rather than an annoying obstacle,” he said. “This keeps the user journey simple while delivering that shareable, viral moment.”

For Leung Chung, head of creative at Hong Kong-based creative agency Sunny Idea, the Google collaboration was a natural fit. “Stranger Things is already built on nostalgia, and the ‘Upside Down’ mechanic is a smart, innovative way to bring that world into a modern digital behaviour,” he said.

Chung added a crucial observation about today’s advertising climate: “People literally pay to stop seeing ads. It forces us to stop ‘interrupting’ and start adding value: either deliver content that’s good enough to compete, or create small surprises that blend seamlessly into their routine.”

Furthermore, brands can bring out more playfulness in digital experiences by being more interactive instead of gimmicky, said VML's Deboor. "Getting people to do something to provides a minor dopamine hit or a small memorable takeaway in a fun way. It drives more engagement - and helps strengthen memory structures for the brand, which is ultimately the most important thing that marketers should aim for. To build lasting memory structures."

Surprise is over-rated. Playfulness is far more important. The more playful you are, the more surprising you can be. 

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Google goes upside down for global Stranger Things rollout