The brewer’s first tie-up with ‘The Gentlemen’ pairs star Theo James with David Beckham, betting a five-step pouring ritual can sell as hard as the show.
Stella Artois and Netflix have a simple pitch for their new campaign: pouring a beer, done right, is its own kind of flex.
The two announced “The Gentlemen’s Serve”, a global partnership built around the second season of Guy Ritchie’s series “The Gentlemen.” It’s the show’s first brand partner and the first real multi-market collaboration between Netflix and AB InBev, dropping one of the world’s biggest premium beer brands into Ritchie’s slick, rough-edged world. The whole thing hangs on two faces: the show’s lead, Theo James, and longtime Stella ambassador David Beckham.
Built by creative agency GUT Amsterdam with Netflix’s Brand Creative Studio, the campaign runs on one idea, that serving a Stella properly is less a pour than a power move. It plays out through a hero film, “The Auction,” plus a set of vignettes walking through the brand’s five-step pouring ritual: The Clean-Up, The Sacrifice, The Angle, The Cut, and The Judgement. James, in character as Eddie Horniman, plays opposite Beckham, a pairing meant to carry the show past its core audience.
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James leaned into the fit, noting that the series trades on the rituals of aristocracy at high stakes, and that a brand known for excellence and taste slots into that world naturally. Fans of the show, he suggested, will buy it.
The campaign lands in eight markets, the US, UK, Canada, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, South Africa and South Korea, and it doesn’t stay on screen. It spills into custom social content across both brands’ channels, experiential activations, and limited-edition chalices. AB InBev global CMO Marcel Marcondes framed the show as a natural stage for Stella’s brewing heritage and pouring ritual, with James and Beckham there to connect the two worlds.
The real-world piece comes fast. To launch, Netflix and Stella, working with branding agency JKR, are taking over The Marlborough pub in London from Thursday, September 3 through Saturday, September 5, filling a classic gentlemen’s pub with hidden nods to the show. Guests can order a Stella, try The Gentlemen’s Serve themselves, and walk out with merch, including a personally engraved chalice.
Netflix’s VP of global brand and marketing partnerships, Magno Herran, pointed to why the pairing works: the show’s fans love Ritchie’s mix of style, stakes and swagger, and a brand built on precision and ritual fits into that without straining. He called the campaign a piece of entertainment in its own right, one that lets fans live in the show’s world beyond the screen.
The activation is the first multi-market effort between AB InBev and Netflix under their multi-year global deal, a sign of how streaming platforms and advertisers are increasingly building campaigns as content rather than interruption. The new season of “The Gentlemen” premieres September 3 on Netflix.
