{"id":4473,"date":"2025-11-27T13:31:25","date_gmt":"2025-11-27T13:31:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/marketsfortress.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/27\/netflix-sends-off-stranger-things-with-bike-rides-and-product-blitz\/"},"modified":"2025-11-27T13:31:25","modified_gmt":"2025-11-27T13:31:25","slug":"netflix-sends-off-stranger-things-with-bike-rides-and-product-blitz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marketsfortress.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/27\/netflix-sends-off-stranger-things-with-bike-rides-and-product-blitz\/","title":{"rendered":"Netflix sends off ‘Stranger Things’ with bike rides and product blitz"},"content":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES \u2014 Netflix\u2019s hit sci-fi series “Stranger Things”<\/a> is about to ride to its conclusion with a marketing and merchandising blitz befitting a blockbuster movie.<\/p>\n

Ahead of the fifth and final season\u2019s debut on Wednesday, thousands turned out in Los Angeles at a cycling event dubbed \u201cOne Last Ride,\u201d a nod to the show\u2019s bike-riding teenagers in the fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Retailers are offering everything from Demogorgon Crunch cereal to Hellfire Club backpacks for what is Netflix\u2019s largest consumer products program to date, said Netflix Chief Marketing Officer Marian Lee.<\/p>\n

Target stores are selling more than 150 \u201cStranger Things\u201d products.<\/p>\n

\"David
David Harbour as Jim Hopper and Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven in “Stranger Things” season 5.<\/span>Courtesy of Netflix<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Many brands are leaning in to 1980s nostalgia. Gatorade brought back an \u201880s Citrus Cooler flavor, and Walmart is selling a \u201cStranger Things\u201d collection of Care Bears, one of the hot-selling toys of that era.<\/p>\n

The promotional push extends around the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a show that really resonates globally,\u201d Lee said.<\/p>\n

In Paris, visitors can browse a Hawkins Christmas market at the Galeries Lafayette department store. A \u201cStranger Things\u201d experience featuring the Hawkins Lab has stopped in San Francisco, New York, Rio de Janeiro and Sydney. New Netflix Houses inside malls feature \u201cStranger Things\u201d areas.<\/p>\n

Instead of releasing all episodes at once, Netflix will stagger the final season\u2019s episodes around major holidays. Four episodes debut on Wednesday, the day before the U.S. Thanksgiving Day holiday, three on Christmas Day in December and the final episode on New Year\u2019s Eve.<\/p>\n

\u201cStranger Things\u201d \u2014 whose stars include Millie Bobby Brown, Finn Wolfhard and Noah Schnapp \u2014 will be hard to miss throughout the holiday season. A \u201cStranger Things\u201d float featuring 1970s and \u201980s rock band Foreigner will appear in the Macy\u2019s Thanksgiving Day parade. More products will arrive to tempt holiday shoppers.<\/p>\n

\"STRANGER
From left, Gaten Matarazzo as Dustin Henderson, Finn Wolfhard as Mike Wheeler, Caleb McLaughlin as Lucas Sinclair and Noah Schnapp as Will Byers in “Stranger Things” season 5.<\/span>Courtesy of Netflix<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The all-in approach is similar to what movie studios employ for big-budget films such as \u201cBarbie\u201d or \u201cWicked,\u201d said Amanda Cioletti, an expert on licensing trends and vice president of content and strategy at research firm Informa Markets Global Licensing Group. TV shows rarely receive such treatment.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe see \u2018Stranger Things\u2019 everywhere,\u201d said Cioletti. \u201cWhen you are on social media you see it, and you see it in all the storefronts. You see it in every other placement that makes sense.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fans at the Los Angeles bike ride voiced anticipation for the final season of a series that began nine years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe (show) started when I was in about sixth grade, so I was the same age as the characters when it started,\u201d said 21-year-old Chloe Allen. \u201cIt\u2019s definitely been a huge part of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Netflix hopes to keep fans interested in the \u201cStranger Things\u201d world for years. A play called \u201cStranger Things: The First Shadow\u201d is running on Broadway and London\u2019s West End, and an animated series is set for next year.<\/p>\n

A live-action spinoff also is planned. \u201cIt\u2019s not a continuation of the story of Hawkins, of these characters, but it\u2019s still in the universe of \u2018Stranger Things,\u2019\u201d co-creator Ross Duffer said.<\/p>\n

Executive producer Shawn Levy revealed few details but said he and the Duffers would offer fans something new.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are never going to repeat ourselves,\u201d Levy said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES \u2014 Netflix\u2019s hit sci-fi series “Stranger Things” is about to ride to its conclusion with a marketing and merchandising blitz befitting a blockbuster movie. Ahead of the fifth and final season\u2019s debut on Wednesday, thousands turned out in Los Angeles at a cycling event dubbed \u201cOne Last Ride,\u201d a nod to the show\u2019s <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":4474,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-4473","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marketsfortress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4473","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marketsfortress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marketsfortress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marketsfortress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4473"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/marketsfortress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4473\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marketsfortress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marketsfortress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marketsfortress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marketsfortress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}