Marketing Analysis of Byler
Marketing Concepts and Theory
Before I begin analysing the actual marketing content used by Netflix and Stranger Things for Byler, I’d like to mention some basic marketing concepts and theory which are used.
One of the main techniques used by marketers is Classical Conditioning, a theory originally conceptualised by Pavlov. In brief, this theory states that you can increase attention and understanding to whatever you are marketing by using associations. For example; McDonald’s use branding such as their Golden Arches and logo. When a consumer sees this logo you immediately think of McDonald’s right? You may also think of burgers, fries and just food in general. But then comes the hunger associated with just simply seeing this logo, your brain associates it with pleasure and hunger. So marketers can use key associations to help consumers understand their products through emotional connections and psychological connections. This helps to not only formulate better understanding but also to increase attention and awareness. If people don’t understand your products or have no connection, usually they won’t use your service or buy your products.
So before I begin analysing marketing conducted for Stranger Things, I just want to put the above into context. It’s clear that the Duffer Brothers have planned this story out and they have already now told Netflix executives the ending of season 5. With this in mind, they would inform Netflix and social media administrators as to which content they should produce. Note, however, that they would not tell them the plot as this could lead to unwanted leaks. They can push for certain content to be produced though, which I believe is happening.
Stranger Things and Netflix accounts therefore would publish certain content to hint to the audience as to what is happening next. Taking Classical Conditioning and psychological connections into account, they would post Byler related content to help the general audience to gain a further understanding of the potential for Byler. Over time, using a reinforcement strategy in marketing has shown to increase positive reception and connotations amongst consumers. By feeding Byler content over time, this allows them to soften the potential for a backlash and so the general audience simply cannot say that it “came out of nowhere”.
Analysis of Marketing Content
To start let’s look at some of the content that was released pre-season 3.
As you can see above this photoshoot was conducted pre-season 3. What is interesting is the couple choices above. You have Jopper, Lumax and Jancy which are all likely to be endgame couples. It’s important to note they were important pairings to each other in season 3 too. What’s interesting is Mike and Will doing a couple shoot? If that’s not intentional marketing then someone needs to be fired, because that is obvious. To me it looks like they are subtly promoting Byler as an endgame couple. Additionally, Millie was apparently available at the time, yet they still chose Byler. Those who use surface level analysis will, of course, not notice but this is not the only material promoted.
Next we have an interesting excerpt from the SFX section of a magazine for season 3. You can see it reads “boy trouble”. Interestingly, they decided to use boy trouble instead of girl trouble to summarise Mikes story arc in season 3. Foreshadowing perhaps? Clever marketing ahain it seems. You may say it’s a stretch but “everything is intentional”. In marketing I can assure you, you are told all of the small details to include by the creators or hierarchy. These promotions take a lot of work.
Moving on to the next piece, this is from the game Puzzle Tales (Chapter 7).
Interestingly, this part of the game was seemingly from Wills perspective and Mike is referred to as being “boyfriend material”. “Flayed boyfriend” is also used for Mike. Again this is a piece of internal marketing used inside the game to condition people to assume the possibility of Byler being a thing. You may say, do people really pick up on this? Some do, yes. Do lots of others? No, not explicitly, but perhaps subconsciously. You see, marketing is all about subconscious influence. Even if you think something has not influenced you in any way, it’s likely to have had an impact. Whilst you may think Byler will be unpopular, many will come round to the idea because of the marketing used, alongside of course clever onscreen subtext and Easter eggs.
Lastly, some more recent promotions that have really hinted at Byler.
I mean just read the caption, it speaks volumes. But the fact they are really trying to get the message across of Will being a third wheel and there being a love triangle involved, is obvious. Alongside the subtext, they are using marketing content like this to demonstrate further to the audience that something is happening here and it needs to be noticed. Ambiguous captions draw people in and get conversations started, allowing people to work it out for themselves. This allows people to start getting adjusted to the idea, especially if they have no clue about it.
This next promotion post I love because it’s subtle yet, so obvious at the same time. Just to clarify, they aren’t saying that they prefer season 3 compared to 4 in the caption. The arrow is used to show that in both seasons they are having a fight and the scenes are paralleled. Clever, using marketing to show subtext in the show for those who missed it. They are trying to illustrate to the audience that these fights are very significant and are closely associated with Byler. Both fights were based around their relationship and how distant Mike is making himself due to his relationship with El. We are being told that this relationship is causing problems not just to Mike and El, but to his friends and best friends too, but mainly Will.
Mike deflects his emotions onto Will in both of these scenes. In season 3 he says “it’s not my fault you don’t like girls” and “what did you think, really, that we were never going to get girlfriends”. This sounds like he’s deflecting his own issues and making them Wills fault and projecting himself onto Will. The girlfriends line is used in association with growing up as that was, in the 80s, seen as the “normal” thing to do. But being aware of that Mike simply knows it’s not true, so he projects. Same with season 4. He says Will is “being a douche” and that maybe he should’ve “reached out more”. Mike is scared of his feelings and so he projects them, making it seem like Will is the problem. He creates distance so he doesen’t have to face the truth. So paralleling this and using it in marketing is clever as it’s reiterating what the show wants you to see and understand, conditioning you to make these associations and realise what’s happening.
This last post I wanted to use because not only do I find this funny, it’s one of the most blatantly obvious pieces of marketing. Actors are sometimes informed by either the writers, producers or anyone with that power to hint at certain plot-lines or to make certain social media posts. By doing so, it creates hype and gives the audience an insight into the direction of the show moving forwards. This post shows Noah hinting at volume 2 having even more Byler content and that volume 1 made him ship Byler over all of the other ships. The Netflix reply, however, is pure gold dust, “Will deserves to receive the same love he gives”. They emphasise the caption with hand claps in between each word. They want you to realise that just having Will love Mike wouldn’t be a worthy story and that he deserves more than it just being a one sided crush. Reciprocation is deserved, and is highlighted with this piece of marketing.
Before anyone says that you should take Netflix Geeked posts with a pinch of salt, I do believe that they are told to hype up certain content on purpose. Whilst you can argue maybe they just have that opinion for the reply, it’s more of the fact that they are fuelling the hype that speaks volumes, not the caption itself. They didn’t have to comment at all, yet they have been told they need to hype up Byler. This is because they need to condition the audience to the idea of it happening. That way, people can slowly adjust and accept it.
Overall, I would’ve analysed more but I ran out of photo space. I picked out the most interesting marketing material that I believe hints strongly at Byler. Many are worried about queer baiting due to past experience, I totally get that. I do agree that if Byler is one-sided, then it is queer baiting. However, I don’t think Byler is queer bait. The way that all of the cast, crew and social media admins go to great lengths to emphasise Byler, that’s not a coincidence or hype scheme. They use great subtext and marketing alongside, to slowly introduce the idea of Byler, so that the general audience is not shocked and give it a negative reception. Another reason as to why it’s a slow burn. Although the Duffers did recently state that they are writing the story “that feels right” and are not giving into “the noise”. I think that just demonstrates, alongside this post, that this is not queer bait. This is different to before. Everything that is happening is intentional, we are meant to notice. Start believing, not dreaming!
