Strategy March 03, 2016
'House of Cards' Campaigns with Promo Products
Three days after Super Tuesday, the most corrupt politician in American history returns to office—President Frank Underwood.
The fourth season of “House of Cards” premieres on March 4, with Kevin Spacey, Robin Wright, and Michael Kelly reprising their roles as Underwood campaigns for re-election.
The campaign stems beyond Netflix, though. In February, an actual office opened in Greenville, South Carolina, just 50 miles from Underwood’s hometown of Gaffney. Visitors, and potential voters, walked out with navy blue T-shirts and “FU ‘16” pins. Billboards and banners around the United States have been decorated with Underwood’s name above slogans such as “Anything for America” and “Whatever It Takes.”
And starting on Monday, viewers took to social media, tweeting photos of promotional products mailed to them from Netflix’s public relations team: pins, stickers and a card from the fictional president reading, “We’ve been through a lot together. Now it’s time to get our hands dirty.”
Underwood is no stranger to the ad specialty industry. In November, he appeared at Alibaba’s televised variety show to kick off its annual e-commerce festival, Singles' Day.