The Big Night Inn
Reimagining a night in as something worth dressing up for
Client:
Woolworths x Netflix
The brief
For 14 years, Big Night In has been one of Woolworths' most recognisable shopper promotions. This year, the challenge was bigger. Through a world-first masterbrand partnership with Netflix, Woolworths had the opportunity to connect some of the world's most recognisable entertainment properties to a retail platform. The question wasn't how to announce the promotion. It was how to make people feel part of it.
Our curious spark
The idea started with a simple observation: staying in isn't a compromise anymore. For many people, it's the plan. Woolworths calls it JOMO, the Joy Of Missing Out. We saw an opportunity to take that behaviour and give it a physical form. If a big night in has become an occasion in its own right, why shouldn't it have the same theatre, anticipation and storytelling as a big night out?
Why this campaign mattered
Promotions often live in stores, on packs and in advertising. But cultural relevance comes from participation. This partnership brought together some of Netflix’s biggest global franchises under a single retail promotion, creating an opportunity to build something people could experience, share and talk about long after they’d left the supermarket aisle.
Activating curiosity and creativity
Our curious crew at work
Curious Nation developed the concept and led the production of the Big Night Inn, transforming a cultural insight into a fully realised physical experience. Working alongside Woolworths, Netflix and campaign partners, we helped create a world that could support media attention, influencer storytelling and consumer participation, all while delivering an experience worthy of Netflix’s first masterbrand retail partnership.
Proof that curiosity pays off
A promotion reintroduced to a new audience
The Big Night Inn gave a 14-year-old shopper promotion a fresh cultural relevance, helping it move beyond transactional mechanics and into experience-led storytelling.
Coverage at scale
The activation generated more than 90 pieces of online and social coverage, reaching an audience of over 10 million people.
Built to travel beyond the venue
By dedicating different nights to media, influencers and competition winners, the experience was designed to keep generating stories long after the doors first opened.
Positive audience response
Coverage sentiment remained overwhelmingly positive, demonstrating strong audience engagement with both the concept and execution.
Lessons in curiosity
People don’t separate brands, entertainment and experiences as neatly as marketers sometimes do. They move between them naturally. The Big Night Inn worked because it recognised that a promotion can be more than a mechanic. It can become a destination. By giving JOMO a physical shape, Woolworths and Netflix transformed a familiar retail campaign into something people actively wanted to be part of.
