When a brand decides to reunite the kids from Stranger Things, you know it’s playing for more than just clicks. Deutsche Telekom isn’t just cashing in on nostalgia — it’s leaning headfirst into it with an ad that feels like a love letter to the ‘80s, to binge-watch culture, and to everything fans love about Hawkins.
The campaign, titled “Everything In One Place,” brings back the original four boys — Mike, Dustin, Will and Lucas — into the exact setting where many of us first fell for the show. The spot opens in Mike’s basement, now repurposed by the guys themselves. They’re building a makeshift machine to binge “infinite hours” of ’80s fight-movie mayhem — because prepping for a final showdown in the Upside Down apparently requires a solid dose of cheesy action films.
That ridiculous setup? It’s the whole point. It draws a sharp contrast between how you once had to hunt down movies on VHS, stack tapes, fast-forward, and rewind — and how now everything you want to watch is a click away on Deutsche Telekom’s streaming service, MagentaTV. Suddenly, all those universes — Hawkins, Hollywood, sci-fi, horror, drama — live together, without ever leaving your couch.
It’s not just the cast that got the call. The production brought back the original set-designer, recreated authentic rooms, gave the lighting and cinematography the moody-80s treatment, and even built a functional “VHS megamix” machine stuffed with over 300 hand-designed tape covers. Licensed classics like E.T., Back to the Future, Alien, The Empire Strikes Back and more show up in the reel, alongside period-accurate radios, posters, and synthesizer-heavy sound design. Every frame screams “nostalgia with quality.”
But beyond fan service, there’s a clever brand play: by leaning into longing and memory, Deutsche Telekom positions MagentaTV not just as “another streaming option,” but as the place where your favorite worlds — past and present — finally converge. For fans of Stranger Things, and for anyone who grew up loading tapes and renting movies, this sells a dream: one living room, infinite stories.
In a media world drowning in flashy buffer-ads and forced tie-ins, this feels thoughtful. It’s not trying too hard. It simply says: “Remember this feeling? Want it again? Press play.”
Upside Down? More like right-side up. Stream on. — Julian Vega
