The Art of Stealing
Netflix
Issue 62 | March 2022
Agency
Gong
Creative Team
Creative Director Michal Bucholc Art Directors Tomasz Loska, Lukasz Liszka Copywriters Artur Karwala, Adam Tokarski
Production Team
Photographer Grzegorz Lach Digital Production Teresa Skorupa
Other Credits
Communications And Social Media Director Edyta Maciejewska Account Director Natalia Cichon Senior Planners Kamil Chwajol, Joanna Rychlicka PR Director Izabella Siurdyna Social Media Manager Justyna Kwiecien Channel Manager Marta Skiba Krak w National Museum Managers Dagmara Marcinek, Karolina Lachman, Marta Mlynarska Client Netflix Senior Marketing Manager Alecsandra Roman
Date
November 2021
Background
‘Lupin’ was a hit series on Netflix, a Frenchmade drama about Assane Diop, who, obsessed by the adventures of gentleman thief Ars ne Lupin as recounted in a book published in 1907, sets out to avenge the injustice committed against his father.
In the series, Diop had a thing about necklaces.
Idea
To promote the series in Poland, the idea was to celebrate ‘the art of stealing’ by stealing the necklace of one of the country’s most famous women.
The campaign centred around Poland’s most valuable painting, Leonardo da Vinci’s ‘Lady with an Ermine’ (said to be a portrait of Cecilia Gallerani painted around 1490), which was stolen and later recovered in 2016 for the Polish National Museum at a cost of over EUR 100 million.
In co-operation with the museum, a fake painting was displayed in which the lady’s necklace had been removed.
Everyone asked, "Who did it?” A poster outside the museum showed the Lady without her necklace until, guerrillastyle, a bill-sticker was overlaid on top with Diop holding the necklace and saying, ‘Merci, Madame.’
Results
The campaign created quite a stir.
Our Thoughts
This is classic newsjacking. Given the painting had been stolen only five years ago and given it is one of Poland’s greatest national treasures, anything involving it was going to attract attention. It’s a classic ‘demo’ ad in that Netflix manage to pull off the perfect heist in order to promote how Assane Diop pulls off the perfect heist that Ars ne Lupin pulled off more than a century ago.
Anyway, it’s got me interested in watching the series just as it must have got several hundred Poles wanting to watch it too.