Squid Game Proved Multi-Channel Immersion Redefines Travel.
Culture-Led Experiences Now Set the Standard for Travel Growth.
Travel is no longer defined by logistics. Audiences now expect journeys (whether physical or digital) to provide cultural connection, shared participation, and memorable stories. In this environment, entertainment brands are increasingly setting the standards of immersion that travel companies must learn from. Netflix’s Squid Game is the clearest case: a drama that expanded beyond screens to become a multi-channel cultural arena, showing how brand power today is measured by depth of engagement across live, digital, and social experiences.
From Streaming Hit to Cultural Arena
Squid Game began as a Korean series but evolved into a global cultural event. Its scale came not only from storytelling but from how Netflix extended the experience. Social media platforms turned into arenas for discussion, memes, and viral challenges. Fans interacted with each other daily, amplifying reach and relevance. Netflix also launched immersive exhibitions and themed escape rooms, giving people the chance to step physically into the world of the show.
These moves transformed a program into an ecosystem of participation, blurring boundaries between content, culture, and lived experience.
Business Outcomes for Netflix
Netflix converted this cultural momentum into measurable outcomes. Multi-channel engagement drove subscriber growth, strengthened brand visibility, and deepened customer loyalty.
By integrating live activations and social storytelling with its core platform, Netflix proved that entertainment content can become infrastructure for belonging. Instead of a one-off series, Squid Game became a sustained asset that extended brand equity and unlocked new revenue beyond streaming.
Lessons for Travel Brands
The implications extend well beyond entertainment. Travel and hospitality brands cannot rely on logistics, service, or amenities alone; consumers now compare them against immersive cultural experiences like Squid Game.
The lesson is clear: brands must integrate narrative-driven engagement across multiple channels. That means aligning digital communities, live events, and in-destination activations into a coherent system that builds anticipation before travel, enriches the journey itself, and extends meaning afterwards.
Recommendations
Form partnerships with cultural IP owners to create travel experiences that resonate beyond location.
Build narrative-driven activations, pop-ups, performances, or exhibitions, that bring brand stories to life in physical space.
Operate social channels not as marketing tools but as ongoing arenas for participation.
Track subscriber-style metrics, repeat visits, return engagement, community growth, to measure loyalty from cultural immersion.
Bottom Line: Culture-Driven Immersion Is The New Travel Standard
Netflix showed that cultural IP can redefine expectations across multiple platforms and lived experiences. For travel brands, the consequence is blunt: cultural immersion is no longer optional. Those that treat destinations as static backdrops will be outperformed by those that turn them into evolving cultural arenas where people participate, share, and return.
