New Coke to Return in Promotion With Stranger Things and Netflix

The Coca-Cola Company have entered into what is being described as a first-of-its-kind partnership for Netflix in which the Stranger Things team collaborated with Coca-Cola to revive New Coke. The upcoming third season of Netflix’s Stranger Things, which is set to release on July 4th, takes place in the summer of 1985, the same year as the disastrous launch of New Coke. Netflix executives paid a visit to the Coca-Cola archives in Atlanta last year to study New Coke packaging, memorabilia, advertising and more to authentically recreate the historical events of that notorious and short-lived product launch.

The beverage, a sweeter take on the classic Coca-Cola formula, was pulled after just 79 days on the market. It will return to store shelves this summer for a limited promotional run tying into the release of Stranger Things 3. As part of the partnership, Coke will release the first-ever advertisement directed by Stranger Things creators Matt and Ross Duffers online and into movie theaters beginning May 24th. The ad has Stranger Things characters enjoying New Coke at a movie theater, all set to the original music from New Coke ads of 1985. You can see the ad above.

“In a world of shifting media consumption, we continue to challenge ourselves to find creative and meaningful ways to participate in non-advertising platforms like Netflix to engage with the millions of fans who subscribe to streaming content services,” said Geoff Cottrill, senior vice president of strategic marketing, Coca-Cola North America. “We’re excited to partner with Netflix and play a key role in recreating the summer of 1985 in a uniquely Coca-Cola way.”

“New Coke was always going to play a role this season,” the Duffer Brothers told The New York Times. “It was one of the first ideas in our Season Three brainstorm. It was the summer of ’85, and when you talk about pop culture moments, New Coke was a really big deal. It would have been more bizarre to not include it.”

Stuart Kronauge, president of Coca-Cola North America’s business unit, added. “One thing that makes Stranger Things so special is its commitment to authentically portraying the decade in which the show takes place. When we heard that Season Three would be set in the summer of 1985 and they wanted to integrate New Coke, we knew we had an opportunity to revisit that time period in a fun and unexpected way that would also allow us to be part of one of this year’s most anticipated pop culture moments.”

What do you think of the return of New Coke? Let us know in the comments. Stranger Things 3 comes to Netflix on July 4th.