Is ‘Bridgerton’ set to become the next ‘Stranger Things’?

This social season’s most swoon-worthy pairing? My dear reader, it simply must be Bridgerton and its roster of brand collaborations.

Late last month, the hit Netflix and Shondaland-produced show dropped the second half of Season 4’s episodes, finishing the tale of Benedict Bridgerton’s journey to finding love with housemaid-turned-Cinderella Sophie Baek. On Jan. 29, the first batch of episodes premiered to great fanfare, debuting in the top slot in Netflix's Global Top 10 with 39.7 million views, according to the company. In between Part I and Part II, the streamer released its full slate of brand partnerships and product collaborations, which were meant to help fans “delight in the Regency-era world of the ton” as they awaited the final episodes, per a press release.

Those collabs have included apparel, beauty, and food and beverage brands, and involve firsts like a Polly Pocket compact of Bridgerton House, a fragrance collection with COTY, and a rental clothing collection with Nuuly. In all, Netflix rolled out collaborations with 52 partners across product and brand campaigns in various markets, all with the goal of putting fans first, according to Magno Herran, VP of global partnerships at Netflix.

Each season, Bridgerton seems to have more brand collaborations than the last. Season 3, for example, had a little over a dozen partners. While Netflix has shown an increasing appetite for collaborations and product placement—take, Netflix’s rollout of the Stranger Things final season—a Regency-era show doesn’t seem like it would allow for many modern in-world integrations.

Nonetheless, the British high-society tale continues to court brands—and brands are flirting right back.

“The gift that Bridgerton has given us is this whole Regency world, taking it from what you used to consider period pieces—and that was it—into the modern world, and that’s through the music, through the castings, or the story’s themes,” Herran told Marketing Brew. “There’s just a lot of flexibility and we found that fans just want to play in that space.”

Step into Bridgerton House

A Bridgerton partnership marked fashion rental company Nuuly’s first foray into collaborations, according to Kim Gallagher, Nuuly’s executive director of marketing and customer success. With that said, she was unsure at first of how the partnership might play out.

“In the beginning, we were like, what’s this gonna be? Bridgerton’s so huge, we’re still kind of a newer, growing brand,” Gallagher told Marketing Brew.

The show’s popularity among Gen Z and Millennials was a pro, Gallagher said, but its scale was intimidating for a brand that typically has narrower reach. For the partnership to work, she said, she was focused on ensuring the end result had a distinctly Nuuly feel, which she felt was possible when the Netflix team expressed its goal to let the brand help audiences “live like a Bridgerton in a modern way.”

The resulting 22-piece capsule collection, which was released around the first episode drop, includes reimagined Regency apparel made modern with details like toile prints, corsetry, and floral patterns through a partnership with four independent women designers.

According to Herran, the Netflix team directs brand partners toward IP details that might best resonate, but he said he also recognizes where the brand teams should take the lead.

“We do let our partners play, because we come in, from a partnership perspective, as saying ‘You guys are total experts in this field,’” he said. “We’re total experts in the IP and our fans and what they talk about. And in that alchemy comes something special.”

What’s old is new

For many shows, in-show product integrations are an attractive option, but brand marketers working with Bridgerton say they don’t view the Regency setting that prevents in-world integrations as a lost opportunity. “Product placement is the place a lot of brands go,” Gallagher said. “To be honest, there’s some consumer backlash against that as well, so I don’t know that that’s always the right approach.”

There are plenty of other ways to tap into the vibe of the show. This season, Facebook Marketplace worked with Bridgerton on two ads featuring actors Luke Newton and Golda Rosheuvel that highlights how users can leverage the platform to find Bridgerton-esque furniture and home decor. The collaboration, which is set to run for six weeks, also includes a dedicated landing page on Facebook Marketplace’s app that helps fans enter to potentially win real pieces from the show’s set.

The partnership marks the first time Facebook Marketplace has worked with an entertainment property to this degree, according to Briana de Veer, global director for Facebook Brand Marketing.

For a modern product like Facebook Marketplace, navigating the Regency era required leaning in where the brand and IP intersect, de Veer said.

“We saw an opportunity to act as a bridge, bringing the magic and escapism of the show into people’s everyday lives,” de Veer told us in an email. “The opportunity comes from tapping the audience's desire to experience a piece of that world and secure a tangible ‘badge of honor’ that connects them to the story and to each other.”

For Netflix, collaborations can help boost audience engagement along with viewership and subscribers, but Herran acknowledged that there’s a delicate balance to pick partners that a wide variety of fans can access and are interested in.

Stranger things have happened

Considering the many Bridgerton seasons planned for the future, could Bridgerton be the kind of brand juggernaut that Stranger Things became before its story wrapped?

Gallagher thinks it’s possible. “There’s something about Stranger Things where it’s tapping into this need for nostalgia of a time that most of the fans of Stranger Things actually didn’t live [through],” she said. “Bridgerton is a very different time in the Regency era, [but] I do think it’s similarly tapping into that need for nostalgia.”

Despite the two shows’ considerable differences, de Veer also sees potential. “If Bridgerton continues to evolve, expand its universe, and engage its audience in new ways, it absolutely has the potential to become a cultural phenomenon on par with Stranger Things, albeit with its own unique flavor and impact.”

From Netflix’s perspective, it’s hard to predict what exactly will be the next big hit—just consider the runaway success of KPop Demon Hunters or Squid Game. Still, Herran said, finding ways to supercharge fan love is key to powering viewership and brand enthusiasm, no matter the genre.

“We don’t just build franchises and launch them and say, ‘These are the ones,’” Herran said. With that caveat, he added, “I have no doubt that we will have three or four of the next Stranger Things coming in the next year or so.”