Remember Bunty’s dialogue from Netflix original series Sacred Games 2, “Yahaan Parle-G khaana pad raha hai kaali chai mein dubokar”? Was it Netflix promoting Parle-G? Well the streamer would deny doing so given it’s strong ad-free policy.
When it comes to featuring brands on the platform, Netflix has repeatedly claimed that it’s an ad-free service and does not intend to do paid promotion for any brand. While that is true, we have often seen certain brand names coming up in some of Netflix Originals like ‘Stranger Things’, ‘To All The Boys I Have Loved Before’, etc.
Technically it is termed as ‘product placement’, that is a sort of “embedded marketing technique where references to specific brands or products are incorporated into another work”. But when it comes specifically to Netflix the ‘paid’ part is not there, justifying its ad-free image.
But whether or not Netflix has any other deals going on with the brands that frequently appear in mostly it’s original content is not known. When Parle-G was mentioned in Sacred Games 2, the brand took upon itself to promote its product through it and intentionally or unintentionally somehow promoted the series too. Even Netflix India’s twitter account mentioned it on it’s page.
Part of every game #SacredGames #SacredBiscuit pic.twitter.com/O9FWDPlJTc
— Parle-G (@officialparleg) August 19, 2019
Parle-G is proud to be part of every startup entrepreneur’s initial struggle. #SacredBiscuit for every genius. #SacredGames pic.twitter.com/C71xB7Z8Cu
— Parle-G (@officialparleg) August 19, 2019
Season 1:
0 mentions of Parle-G.
0 hit songs written by Bunty.Season 2:
1 mention of Parle-G.
Bunty becomes a world-famous producer, casino owner and lyricist.Coincidence? We think not. https://t.co/VJKyOBu8Bt
— Netflix India (@NetflixIndia) August 21, 2019
Though Netflix does not do any financial dealings for such things, it cannot be denied that the brand and the platform mutually benefit in some sort through cross marketing.
Netflix religiously adheres to it’s ad-free policy, but there seem to be other ways through which the platform benefits without the involvement of cash dealings. Now this appears to be a very smart move by the streaming giant creating a win-win scenario for both the brand and the platform.
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