Experiential / Entertainment
Marvel's The DefendersReal-World Fan Experiences
Senior writer with Campfire on experiential concepts for Marvel's The Defenders. We brought the Netflix series off the screen and into the streets, conceiving real-world experiences that let fans live in the Defenders' gritty corner of New York.
Role
Senior Writer
Client
Netflix / Marvel
Discipline
Experiential / Entertainment
Three tenets: city as canvas, subversive media, authentic voice.
Scandalous. Dysfunctional. Ass-kickers.
The Defenders aren't polished Avengers. They're street-level outcasts in a grimy, lived-in New York. The show needed to land as a must-see pop-culture event that created buzz and drove new subscribers, but a glossy studio rollout would have betrayed the whole franchise. The work had to feel like their world: raw, subversive, and real.
Bring the universe off the screen and into the street
Instead of a premiere, we proposed “pulse point” experiences — moments people felt compelled to be part of. Fans could visit the Defenders' haunts, wear their signature “armor,” and step into real-life urban mystery-solving adventures. We even flipped the lens to the exasperated New Yorkers who share these streets, including a support group for the people the Defenders leave in their wake.
City as canvas
Every experience was written in the raw, subversive voice of the franchise and designed to live where The Defenders themselves would show up: dive bars, back alleys, street corners. Not a red carpet, not a billboard. The real New York, the one these characters actually inhabit.
Not a premiere. A moment people felt compelled to be part of.
Next Project
CVS: The New CVS.com→