Ozark has become a critically acclaimed Emmy juggernaut over its first three seasons – and for its devoted fans, the 665-day wait until Season 4 seemed interminable. During the wait, Ozark’s A-list talent and team determined that Season 4 would bring the story to conclusion. The combination of the long wait, potential disappointment the series was ending, and the desire to finish strong created overlapping pressures to deliver the very strongest social campaign for the Ozark community – one that would re-engage core fans, expand Ozark fandom for new arrivals, properly pulse the campaign across the full season leading to the release Part 1, the bridge, then the release of Part 2.
This campaign needed to encompass three key beats on the Ozark calendar that each needed to snap with Ozark’s intensity and ferocity.
The content strategy for the lead up to Part 1 release: reengage core fans, stoke reviewer attention, and create intrigue that brings new fans into the Ozark community. An initial content series of countdowns whetted fan appetites – but with great care not to spoil any major twists. Social listening made it abundantly clear that the fans Did. Not. Want. Spoilers.
The Character Arc summary series created an entry point for new fans. For better or for worse, the Byrde family is forced into a painful period of transformation, but nobody ever said growing came without its pains. We didn't want fans to miss a beat, so we created a series of videos highlighting the growth trajectories of Ozark's characters over time to coincide with the season's Part 1 launch.
Julia Garner’s intensity became part of a TikTok launch suite that was dueted thousands of times. A series of character arc transformations provided opportunities for fans to reflect and amplify their own feelings about these character journeys. The sharp writing and storytelling strength shine through as even as sound-off pre-rolls.
A key transitional beat was the bridge season leading into Part 2 release: this led with a teaser content series featuring Ruth and Omar to lift them up as the twin story drivers of the upcoming final episodes. The Ozark fan community is both passionate and very active on social feeds. They respected turning fandom’s No. Spoilers. credo into Ozark’s own original social admonition piece – Don’t Spoil It, in all its f-bomb intensity.
The fan community embraced this social video campaign with 30.6M views. Fan engagement was strong with +2.9M likes/+189K comments/676K shares.
