Netflix is taking branded entertainment beyond conventional product placement with a new global campaign that puts Stella Artois inside the world of The Gentlemen as the series returns for its second season.
The partnership, dubbed “The Gentlemen’s Serve,” is the first brand partnership for the second season of the Netflix series and the first true multi-market collaboration between Netflix and AB InBev. It will run across the U.S., U.K., Canada, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, South Africa and South Korea.
Rather than simply placing the beer in the show, the campaign turns Stella Artois’ serving ritual into part of the fictional universe created by Guy Ritchie. The campaign pairs The Gentlemen star Theo James, returning as Eddie Horniman, with Stella Artois ambassador David Beckham.
For the advertising industry, the partnership offers a useful example of how entertainment platforms and brands are trying to build campaigns that operate across streaming content, social media, experiential marketing and physical activations rather than treating a sponsorship as a single media placement.
Netflix and Stella Build a Campaign Around a Brand Ritual
Developed by creative agency GUT Amsterdam with Netflix Brand Studio, “The Gentlemen’s Serve” is built around the idea that properly serving a Stella Artois is itself a display of precision and confidence.
The centerpiece is a hero film called “The Auction,” supported by a series of shorter videos built around the beer brand’s five-step pouring ritual: “The Clean-Up,” “The Sacrifice,” “The Angle,” “The Cut” and “The Judgement.”
The creative approach gives Stella a role within the campaign’s narrative rather than making the partnership primarily about conventional product exposure.
That distinction is increasingly important as brands compete for attention in streaming environments where consumers can skip, ignore or tune out conventional advertising. Entertainment-led collaborations offer marketers a way to borrow the cultural relevance of established intellectual property while creating original content around it.
In this case, the fit is particularly deliberate. The Gentlemen is built around themes of status, ritual, style and power, while Stella Artois has long positioned its serving ritual and premium presentation as part of its brand identity.
The campaign uses those overlapping characteristics as the creative bridge.
From Streaming Screen to Real-World Experience
The partnership also demonstrates how major entertainment collaborations are becoming increasingly multi-channel.
Netflix and Stella Artois will distribute custom social content across their owned platforms, while experiential activations are planned in key markets. Limited-edition chalices will extend the campaign into physical consumer touchpoints.
The London activation provides the clearest example.
From September 3 through September 5, The Marlborough in London will be transformed into a The Gentlemen-inspired experience. Visitors can explore a themed pub environment, discover references to the series and order the featured Stella serve. Some visitors will also have the opportunity to receive limited-edition merchandise, including personalized chalices.
For advertisers, this creates a campaign architecture that moves consumers through several environments: streaming entertainment, social content, physical experiences and branded merchandise.
That approach can make a sponsorship more measurable and more extensible than a traditional media placement, although proving incremental sales or brand impact across all those touchpoints remains a challenge.
The Partnership Reflects a Larger Shift in Streaming Advertising
Netflix has increasingly expanded its commercial ecosystem beyond the traditional boundaries of subscription streaming.
Brand partnerships, advertising-supported viewing and Netflix’s broader advertising business give marketers more ways to connect with the platform’s audience. Partnerships such as “The Gentlemen’s Serve” add another layer by allowing brands to participate in Netflix intellectual property while producing content that can travel beyond the platform.
That is strategically important as streaming services compete not only for subscribers but also for advertising budgets.
Netflix competes for marketers’ attention with platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, YouTube and connected TV ecosystems that offer different combinations of premium content, audience data and advertising inventory.
A branded entertainment campaign can provide something conventional programmatic inventory cannot: direct association with a recognizable entertainment property.
For Stella Artois, meanwhile, the campaign provides access to an established global audience and a recognizable entertainment franchise while allowing the brand to maintain control over its creative narrative.
Theo James and David Beckham Expand the Campaign’s Reach
The casting strategy is another important part of the advertising model.
James brings continuity from the series itself, while Beckham brings a separate global audience and an established connection with Stella Artois. Putting the two together creates a bridge between the entertainment property and the advertiser’s existing brand identity.
That gives the campaign potential reach beyond viewers who already follow The Gentlemen.
It also illustrates why celebrity partnerships are increasingly being integrated into broader content ecosystems rather than used solely for traditional commercials. A recognizable personality can become part of a campaign’s social, experiential and video assets, allowing brands to build multiple pieces of content from one central creative concept.
Netflix says the partnership is part of a global multi-year relationship with AB InBev, making the campaign more significant than a standalone seasonal promotion.
The second season of The Gentlemen is scheduled to debut on Netflix on September 3.
What the Campaign Means for AdTech
“The Gentlemen’s Serve” sits at the intersection of branded entertainment, streaming advertising, social media marketing and experiential media.
Its significance for advertising technology is less about a new platform feature and more about how media inventory is evolving. As streaming platforms become increasingly important advertising environments, brands are looking for ways to combine premium content association with measurable digital distribution.
The challenge is measurement.
A campaign spread across Netflix content, owned social channels, physical venues, influencer or celebrity content and limited-edition products creates a much more complicated attribution environment than a conventional digital campaign.
Advertisers need to determine whether exposure drives awareness, engagement, search activity, retail behavior or other measurable outcomes. They also need to understand how audiences overlap across channels.
That makes integrated measurement increasingly important as entertainment companies turn intellectual property into marketing platforms.
For Netflix, the opportunity is to demonstrate that its content franchises can generate value for brands beyond conventional advertising inventory. For Stella Artois, the opportunity is to make the brand feel native to a cultural property rather than simply adjacent to it.
If the campaign succeeds, “The Gentlemen’s Serve” could serve as another example of where premium streaming advertising is heading: less separation between entertainment, advertising and consumer experience.
Market Landscape
Streaming platforms are increasingly competing for advertising budgets with traditional television, social media and digital video networks. Netflix, Amazon, Disney and YouTube each offer advertisers different combinations of premium content, audience scale, first-party data and advertising products.
At the same time, brands are seeking alternatives to repetitive display and video advertising. Branded entertainment can provide deeper integration with cultural moments, while experiential activations and social content extend campaigns beyond the original media placement.
The Netflix-Stella Artois partnership illustrates that convergence. Instead of treating The Gentlemen simply as a content property surrounded by advertising, the campaign turns the show’s aesthetic and characters into components of a larger global marketing experience.
Top Insights
- Netflix and Stella Artois launched a multi-market campaign around The Gentlemen, combining streaming content, social media, experiential marketing and branded merchandise.
- The campaign uses Theo James and David Beckham to connect Netflix’s entertainment property with Stella Artois’ established premium brand identity.
- “The Gentlemen’s Serve” turns Stella’s five-step pouring ritual into campaign content, creating a recurring creative device across multiple advertising formats.
- The partnership demonstrates how streaming platforms are expanding branded entertainment beyond conventional advertising inventory into experiences, social content and intellectual-property collaborations.
- Multi-channel entertainment campaigns create new opportunities for advertisers but also increase the complexity of audience measurement, attribution and incremental reach analysis.
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