Netflix and Spotify create personalised 'Upside Down' playlist

In partnership with Netflix's Stranger Things, Spotify has rolled out a personalised "Upside Down Playlist" for every listener. Launched on the music streaming service, the curated collection collection of songs features a mix of listeners' recent and past favourite songs, as well as recommendations from the team behind Stranger Things. The collection updates automatically each day, and can also be accessed via Spotify's Netflix hub. 

https://twitter.com/Spotify/status/1542170300757983232

https://twitter.com/Stranger_Things/status/1542160975545061376

In addition to the personalised playlist, all the latest sounds from the show's fourth season and second volume were added to the Stranger Things Official Playlist following the premiere, Spotify said. The playlist currently features tracks such as “Psycho Killer,” “I Was a Teenage Werewolf” and, Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God),” which saw an increase of more than 8,700% in global streams on May 30 after the show's first volume premiered, according to Spotify. 

The Stranger Things official playlist is evidently well-received, garnering 1,175,107 likes on Spotify at the time of writing. 

Prior to that, Spotify and Netflix also incorporated elements related to Stranger Things, such as the progress bar on Spotify turning into a flashlight that "cuts through the darkness of the Upside Down" on Android and desktop. 

Separately, fans of the show would also note the overwhelmingly clear, but seamless, product placements of Coke in the Stranger Things series. According to data from YouGov Stream, Coke saw the highest placement value of any brand so far with US$1.83 million. Lacoste came second, despite being featured in just one episode, with US$1.8 million worth of exposure in the first 28 days across the United States and the United Kingdom.

Meanwhile, beyond the digital front, Netflix brought the Upside Down from Stranger Things to the heart of Kuala Lumpur. As part of the experience, the dark forces from the Upside Down "threatened" to take over KL Tower and Kwai Chai Hong. KL Tower served as a canvas for the Upside Down upon sundown with a projection show teasing scenes from the third and fourth seasons. In addition to the projection shows, there were also photo opportunities on the lawn of KL Tower. For instance, at the foot of the tower, a Stranger Things 4 sign with vibrant neon lights was featured, before visitors continued past the tower to a recreation of the mysterious Creel House. It was complemented with with true-to-series props and the house's ominous grandfather clock.

This is not the first time Netflix has teamed up with other brands to promote its Stranger Things show. For instance, in July 2019, Netflix joined forces with Microsoft to bring 1985 experiences inspired by the show. The experiences included a Windows 1.11 special edition PC app, a curated collection of apps on Microsoft Store, themed desktop wallpapers, as well as a workshop to create a Stranger Things mini-movie or code a video game.

To drum up excitement, Microsoft released posts featuring old versions of Microsoft apps such as Paint, bulky desktops of the past, as well as a poll on how much memory running Windows 1.0 in 1985 would have required. Alluding to Stranger Things, it also reassuringly said there was “nothing strange” about Windows 1.0, before trailing off in the caption. Following that, Microsoft then answered consumers’ questions with a dedicated Stranger Things 3 webpage full of 1985 experiences.

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