“Second time’s the charm” seems like an appropriate phrase to apply to the TV show Suits.
While the show enjoyed a loyal fanbase for the nine seasons it aired up to its 2019 series finale, the show saw a massive surge in popularity and viewership when it was added to Netflix last summer. In January, Nielsen found that US viewers streamed the series for 57.7 billion total minutes in 2023, more than any other show ever (including previous record-holder The Office).
While Netflix has benefited from the show’s current surge in popularity, some other brands are seeking to get in on it as well. The most recent example is T-Mobile, which, after tapping two of the show’s main actors, Gabriel Macht and Patrick J. Adams, to appear in its Super Bowl ad, now has the pair promoting its Magenta Status perks program.
The second spot, which rolled out on February 28, shows the pair in various scenarios in which Adams receives discounts on items like movie tickets and a hotel stay because he is a Magenta Status member. The pair worked well as foils in the spot, Peter DeLuca, T-Mobile’s chief creative officer, told Marketing Brew.
“Suits has been introduced to a whole new audience of individuals,” he said. “[Macht and Adams] have this chemistry which is really unique…that we played off of in this second execution.”
The Magenta Status campaign will activate at concerts and festivals next, DeLuca said, although it remains to be seen whether a certain pair of fictional lawyers will support the campaign further. (As of now, no additional ads with Macht and Adams are planned, but “we never say never around here,” T-Mobile spokesperson Mary Gerber said via email.)
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T-Mobile isn’t the only brand that has tapped into Suits’s recent popularity. In its Super Bowl ad this year, e.l.f. cosmetics reunited series cast members Gina Torres, Rick Hoffman, and Sarah Rafferty in a spot where Torres played a woman standing trial for spending too much on makeup.
“We know that courtroom drama is hot,” CMO Kory Marchisotto previously told Marketing Brew.
Brands, of course, love to tap into popular content, and they’ve often looked to shows and movies from yesteryear for inspiration. Last fall, Walmart brought together Lindsay Lohan, Amanda Seyfried, and other members of the cast of the 2004 film Mean Girls to promote its Black Friday sale, and during last year’s Super Bowl, Alicia Silverstone reprised her character Cher from the 1995 film Clueless in a spot for Rakuten.
Other brands are similarly tapping into nostalgia and existing fan bases—although they generally look a bit further back than 2019 for inspiration. Clothing brand Reformation recently debuted a campaign starring Monica Lewinsky, and Kim Kardashian’s Skims brand released an ad featuring ’90s stars—and former Singled Out hosts—Carmen Electra and Jenny McCarthy.
For Suits fans, commercials might not be the only opportunity for fans to see their favorite characters in the foreseeable future: NBCUniversal recently greenlit a spinoff.