The Walking Dead holds a real place in TV history—but after 11 seasons, the franchise was inevitably starting to lose momentum: fewer viewers, less buzz, and a lot more skepticism. We couldn't rely on the brand name anymore. 

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The spinoffs gave us fresh air and new settings, but we also knew the truth: Rick and Michonne are the emotional center for a huge chunk of the fandom. Their return was our best shot at reactivating lapsed fans from a decade ago, while also pulling in a newer wave—international viewers discovering the series on Netflix, and even people who mostly knew Rick and Michonne through pop culture.

 

And the timing couldn’t be ignored. With The Last of Us dominating the conversation, it felt like the exact moment to reclaim the zombie narrative—and remind people why TWD owned it in the first place.

When the premiere date moved to February, I made the call to go all-in on Valentine’s Day—yes, a little on the nose, but in the best way. Because The Ones Who Live is the ultimate “love story, but make it feral.” Whether you’re a Valentine’s person or you actively hate the holiday, we were offering the same thing: romance and violence.

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We compressed the campaign to hit hardest in the final two weeks—shifting resources closer to launch, then taking over the airwaves with a Valentine’s-specific trailer and loud, unapologetic OOH (including the Las Vegas Sphere). The anti-Valentine’s framing worked because it leaned into what TWD does best instead of chasing “prestige TV” positioning.

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The result: TOWL overperformed across linear and streaming, and drew more viewers than the heavily promoted final season of The Walking Dead.

The Ones Who Live—as a tight, capsule limited series—did exactly what we needed it to do: put The Walking Dead back at the center of the conversation for lapsed fans and pop-culture junkies alike. Even with unavoidable gaps between series (and the retention challenges that come with them), the ecosystem came back to life—social pages reignited with theories, merch demand surged, and the world felt alive again.

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As a character-first universe, we leaned on global fan favorites as the slingshot—using their return as the cleanest on-ramp back into the franchise.

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That broader Walking Dead Universe launch strategy was nominated for a DRUM North America Marketing Award—alongside Barbie and Coca-Cola.