Netflix’s Bold Predictions Are Paying Off in Its Tarot-Themed ‘What Next’ Campaign

Netflix began planning its tarot-themed campaign to announce its 2026 slate early last year. Now, around nine months later, it seems success is in the cards.

According to Netflix, its latest “What Next” campaign, which launched with the release of a hero film on Jan. 7, has already received 104 million owned social impressions across Netflix social channels; more than 1,000 dedicated press pieces across broadcast, print, and digital outlets; and the company’s fansite, Tudum, achieved its best-ever traffic day on Jan. 7 with over 2.5 million visits, thanks to a dedicated “Discover Your Future” hub as well as news stories and in-depth articles.

But the true success goes even beyond those numbers, with Netflix rolling out and adapting the campaign across 34 markets around the globe, including North America, South America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, with localized efforts and in-person activations all being tied together through the tarot storyline.

“We found that the tarot card and looking into the future really worked well for markets to localize,” Marian Lee, Netflix’s CMO, told ADWEEK. “They could pick up the shows and films that we were highlighting out of the U.S., but then they could put in their own local slate. And so it ended up being much more universal, which is always the goal.”

The campaign revolves around a four-minute hero film, “Discover Your Future 2026,” the creation of which is a feat in itself. The film, directed by Show Yanagisawa, features actor Teyana Taylor as a mystical tarot reader, playing into the idea of looking into the future.

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In the video, Taylor leads a fan through 10 different worlds of Netflix shows, interacting with the stars of upcoming series including Cillian Murphy (Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man), Millie Bobby Brown (Enola Holmes 3), Luke Thompson (Bridgerton), Iñaki Godoy (One Piece), Lily Collins (Emily in Paris), Gordon Cormier (Avatar: The Last Airbender), Theo James (The Gentlemen), Omar Sy (Lupin), and even Sesame Street’s Elmo.

The majority of the film was shot at Shepperton Studios, one of Netflix’s owned production hubs in the U.K., with the streamer rebuilding show environments to bring the different series to life in the ad, even using the same vendors who work on the shows and films to ensure the visual effects matched fan expectations.

From getting the talent together—some, including Teyana Taylor, Lily Collins, and Gordon Cormier, who even pushed the campaign on their own socials—to assembling vendors and sets, Lee noted it wasn’t easy.

“It was really hard to cull down to just 10 of our titles, and then when you think about the different creatives in it,” Lee said. “We are blessed with a very wide variety of things to choose from, but it all has to hang together.”

To make it all work, Netflix brought in a variety of partners for the campaign, including its internal brand studio, Wieden+Kennedy Portland, Los York Studio, Prettybird, Electric Theatre Collective, and ExtraCredit.

Fifty custom illustrated tarot cards, each representing a global title, served as the creative anchor for the campaign, including in physical and digital activations where fans could choose their own futures from Netflix’s slate of stories.

The executions included out-of-home (OOH) in major cities such as L.A. and New York; digital takeovers with TikTok TopView, a YouTube Masthead, and Spotify mobile; and commercials airing during various live events, including a teaser in Netflix’s NFL Christmas Day games and upcoming TV spots in SNL episodes hosted by Teyana Taylor and Stranger Things star Finn Wolfhard.

The tarot theme got even more personalized with in-person activations.

On Jan. 12-13, Netflix hosted an immersive activation in New York City at Grand Central Terminal, where an animatronic Teyana Taylor gave readings in a 12-foot Tarot Booth, which gained further publicity online with the help of creators such as Kevin Li, Erika Priscilla, and Gabrielle Chase.

Various in-person activations also extend globally in multiple markets, ranging from an interactive tarot tour in Spain to a specialized WhatsApp bot in Brazil that predicted fans’ viewing future. Meanwhile, global press events are planned through Feb. 17 in locations including Italy, Spain, DACH, Poland, Romania, Mexico, Indonesia, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, the Philippines, Australia, and India.

Through it all, Lee emphasized that Netflix remains flexible in its execution.

Not everything can be predicted

The streamer’s ingrained flexibility is evident in how it has approached multiple recent situations, including expanding its campaign for KPop Demon Hunters after the movie blew up in popularity and even leveraging added publicity from a viral fan theory about the final season of Stranger Things.

Following the Stranger Things finale airing on New Year’s Eve, fans came up with several pieces of “evidence” that there was a secret ninth episode of the show on the way. Lee noted that the theory of the secret episode, known as the Conformity Gate, became so popular that it even led her to question her own reality.

“It just kept going. For a minute, I was like, ‘Is there a ninth episode? Is this the best-kept secret at Netflix?’” Lee said, laughing. “I was like, ‘Oh my God, I’m actually losing my mind. What am I doing? This is how conspiracy theories really do get started.”

Reacting to the situation, Netflix used the added publicity to tease its Stranger Things documentary, which takes fans behind the scenes of the final season. Lee said that while most of a campaign is rigorously planned, some things, like the Conformity Gate phenomenon, happen serendipitously, which is where the flexibility comes in.

The streamer is currently in the middle of another of those serendipitous situations, with Teyana Taylor, the star of its “What Next” campaign, also recently winning a Golden Globe for One Battle After Another, instantly making her a central figure during the ongoing awards season.

It wasn’t predicted, but it puts Netflix in a stronger position to win.

“The principle really is about flexibility and agility,” Lee said. “Netflix positions itself well to do that. And that’s why we were able to do it for Stranger Things, we’re able to pivot for Kpop Demon Hunters, and we try to leave room in the overall plan for things that we can’t anticipate.”