Atlantic's Super Bowl campaign immortalized the last Blockbuster store

The goal of a Super Bowl campaign is to get a brand in front of a massive live audience, leading brands to shell out millions of dollars for TV spots. But for this year’s Super Bowl, Blockbuster and creative agency Atlantic New York opted to take a completely opposite approach, skipping—or should we say fast-forwarding—past the actual game to make the viewing experience as exclusive as possible. With the “Until the Bitter End” campaign, Blockbuster sought to spotlight its last remaining brick-and-mortar store in Bend, Oregon. Atlantic leaned into the resilience of the video rental service’s final storefront by likening it to a cockroach in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, infusing cockroach imagery into a series of social media teasers—including one captioned “Just when you thought we were gone, we’re crawling right back”—and a T-shirt tied to the campaign. Ad Age Small Agency Awards See all of the 2023 winners Click here Of course, in true Blockbuster fashion, the commercial could only be viewed on a VHS tape in the Bend store—that is, until the brand later uploaded it on Instagram after the game. View this post on Instagram A post shared by The Official Last Blockbuster (@blockbusterbend) Atlantic New York’s campaign increased sales at the final Blockbuster location by 1,700% and led the store to be featured in more than 100 local and national news outlets without any budget invested in paid media. The two-year-old agency also secured a Gold Lion in Media for the campaign at this year’s Cannes International Festival of Creativity. Ad Age Small Agency Awards See all of the 2023 winners Click here

Atlantic's Super Bowl campaign immortalized the last Blockbuster store

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