Media agency Atomic 212° and Flinders University have launched a major integrated brand campaign timed to coincide with the final season of Netflix’s Stranger Things, transforming a cultural moment into a multi-channel marketing activation for the South Australian university.
The campaign taps Atomic 212°’s ‘Fearless Media Moments’ framework, which focuses on ways to tap key cultural moments, and is part of Flinders University’s new ‘They Say / We Say’ brand platform. The strategy targets 16-to-29-year-olds during the Stranger Things season 5 rollout, one of the biggest cultural moments of the year for the university’s core student demographic.
The cultural activation was developed in partnership with public relations company Herd MSL and features bespoke creative executions linked to Stranger Things across online video and streaming platforms, plus out of home, cinema and search advertising. Flinders University has also integrated the campaign theme into its Diploma in Digital Content Creation curriculum.
Jan Janas, senior strategist at Atomic 212°, said the campaign positions Flinders University as a cultural leader rather than a traditional education advertiser.
“The They Say / We Say creative platform gave us the perfect voice to flip clichés and show that Flinders doesn’t just follow trends, it shapes them. We wanted to move Flinders from talking about the future to leading culture,” he said.
“It’s exciting what can happen when you partner with the right agency and are willing to take risks and challenge the status quo. Our teams have proven that higher education advertising can be fearless, relevant, and exciting,” added Flinders University CMO Bev Bury.
“Flinders University stands firmly at the crossroads of culture and creativity — and we’re not afraid to make an impact. Being culturally relevant, engaging and undeniably playful isn’t just a goal for us, it’s our mandate. When this media strategy hit the table, we instantly recognised its potential to become a powerful, fully immersive 360-degree brand moment,” concluded Meghann Reeves, head of brand, Flinders University.
“This initiative doesn’t just speak to innovation—it embodies it, through ground-breaking activations, boundary-pushing creative, and bold collaborations with our own academics.”
