Meanwhile Crafts Cozy OOH Knit Campaign for Netflix’s ‘The Thursday Murder Club’

Quick listen: Netflix knitted crime into craft with a unique billboard campaign. Here’s why it works in under 2 minutes.

There’s something quietly subversive about knitting a crime billboard.

This is exactly what creative agency Meanwhile did to promote "The Thursday Murder Club," Netflix’s adaptation of Richard Osman’s quirky mystery.

It began as whimsical knitted toppers for post boxes during the show's London premiere on August 21, afterward launching around the country.

"It's the first part of our launch campaign for Netflix's latest, The Thursday Murder Club.

[W]e've targeted media space that's kinda ideal for the target audience, and as is our aim, [Insta-worthy]," the agency wrote in a LinkedIn post.

The campaign has since evolved into a full woven billboard, complete with a wooden doily base and the cheeky slogan, "Don’t get too cosy."

The tactile execution plays directly into the show’s tone: a cozy mystery with edge.

Parts of the campaign were crafted by a team of knitters in northwest England.

They layered this handmade feel across various out-of-home locations in the country.

The Story Behind the Mystery

"The Thursday Murder Club" brings Osman’s bestselling novel to the screen, starring Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan, Ben Kingsley, and Celia Imrie as retirees turned amateur sleuths.

The story follows a group of retirees at Coopers Chase, a quiet retirement village where their weekly hobby is revisiting old cases.

But it takes a turn when a fresh murder lands on their doorstep, and of course, they aren’t shy about getting involved.

Directed by Chris Columbus and produced by Spielberg-backed Amblin Entertainment, the film landed on Netflix in late August to a warm reception.

What carries through from the page to the screen is the oddball charm.

The humor is still there. So are the twists. And while the plot had to be trimmed to fit a two-hour runtime, the characters definitely made the cut.

“This is the finest cast I've worked with since Potter. They’re just so incredibly well-prepared, and it’s because they do everything.

They do theater, they do television, they do film, and they’ve developed those sorts of muscles,” Columbus shared. 

The movie premiered in the U.S. on August 28.

Our Take: Can Craft Campaigns Still Turn Heads?

I’m surprised by how memorable this campaign is. And not just because it looks different, but because it really feels intentional.

There’s a kind of creative mischief running through it, like someone understood the tone of the story and chose to echo it in wool.

Meanwhile found a way to truly harness the power of experiential marketing to make it feel like part of the story itself.

Here are some takeaways for brands doing OOH or trying to stand out:

• Let the tone lead the medium. A cozy whodunit is served best with tactile texture.
• Lean into local flair. Crowd-sourced or locally made elements give the message a richer hang-time.
• Turn marketing into an experience. Rather than “see our show,” this one feels more like “feel our world.”

Netflix and Meanwhile performed a small cultural nod that doesn’t shout but pulls you in with a wink.

For a brand or campaign to do this is rare, and it just goes to show that, sometimes, craft has more pull than flash.

Similarly, Billie also drew buzz with its attention-grabbing scratch-and-sniff armpit OOH ads for its Coco Villa All Day Deodorant launch.