“Knives Out” fans can soon get their Benoit Blanc on.
Hard seltzer White Claw has teamed up with Netflix to devise a limited-edition murder-mystery game that represents the latest in joint promotional ventures between the streaming giant and a major marketer.
The new game, “Crack the CLAW,” is available for limited purchase, and comes with official rules, a moderator script and ten double-sided coasters that correspond with player roles, which include: moderator, vacationers, doctor, detective and murderer(s). Each can be paired with a White Claw.
“We are always looking at how we can create value for our consumers,” says John Shea, chief marketing officer of White Claw USA, in an interview. The game is “fun and engaging,” he says and executives hope it will stand out in an era when consumers resist traditional brand entreaties.
Madison Avenue is increasingly interested in hitching brands to popular streaming options. The caveat? Streamers tend to run fewer commercials, and sometimes, in the case of people who buy ad-free tiers, none.
Other ad giants have taken big swings to pair their products with streaming favorites. In February of 2019, Anheuser-Busch InBev ran a Super Bowl ad that did the unthinkable — it left viewers thinking more about HBO’s “Game of Thrones” than about beer. The commercial showed a character from the HBO series defeating the brand’s signature Bud Knight in a joust and thenkilling him in no uncertain terms. Even so, the commercial gave Anheuser’s Bud Light a connection to viewers who at the time were eager to see the series’ final season.
Netflix has built a team that works to strike intriguing team-ups with advertisers willing to stretch their marketing muscles. In 2019, the company developed a partnership with Coca-Cola that paired the company’s flagship drink with “Stranger Things,” butspurred the beverage giant to temporarily revive New Coke, the much-scrutinized product that languished after its debut in 1985. In 2021, Netflix teamed up with Procter & Gamble’s Old Spice to create a series of off-putting scents tied to characters in “The Witcher.”
Starting Wednesday, White Claw will give fans a chance to get the game via interaction on social media. Over the course of 24 hours, fans can correctly answer seven riddles posted to White Claw’s Twitter and Instagram to discover a seven-letter passcode unlocking the website, and then use that passcode as a promo code to get a game to be given away to the first 100 fans who are over 21 years of age at checkout. On Thursday, the game will be made available for purchase while supplies last.
