How Netflix’s Ladies First Is Changing Advertising for African Brands and Filmmakers

An Industry Perspective By Juliet Yaa Asantewaa Asante

In an age where audiences skip ads but embrace stories, the brands that win tomorrow will be the ones brave enough to become part of culture today.

There are moments when you watch a film and realize you are not simply watching entertainment — you are witnessing an industry shift happen in real time.

That was my experience watching Ladies First on Netflix.

At first glance, the film appears to be a clever satirical comedy. It follows a group of men, led by an arrogant advertising executive, who fail to value or respect women’s roles in society. Then, within minutes of the story unfolding, the lead character gets involved in an accident and wakes up in an alternate reality — a world where gender roles are completely reversed.

Women suddenly occupy spaces of power, influence, and privilege, while men become the “gentler sex”—overlooked, objectified, and structurally disadvantaged.

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The concept itself is smart. The film is funny, entertaining, progressive, and surprisingly sharp in the questions it raises around gender, society, and power dynamics.

But that was not what fascinated me most. What fascinated me most was Guinness. Or more accurately, what Guinness represents in this moment.

Because Ladies First does not merely feature Guinness through traditional product placement.

It does something much bigger.

A New Dawn for Brands, Advertising Agencies, Filmmakers and Distribution

“As every other thing becomes generic, the brands brave enough to embrace expanded audience engagement and storytelling are the brands that may survive the future.”
— Juliet Yaa Asantewaa Asante

The entire world of the film revolves around a Guinness campaign being developed by the fictional advertising agency at the center of the story. Guinness branding, Guinness conversations, Guinness positioning, Guinness visual identity, and Guinness energy are all deeply embedded into the narrative itself.

And suddenly, while watching, I realized: We may have entered an entirely new era of advertising.

From Product Placement to Narrative Storytelling

Product placement in films is not new. Brands have existed in cinema for decades.

We have all seen:

• The soft drink placed carefully on a table,
• the luxury vehicle speeding through an action sequence,
• the logo positioned strategically in the background,
• or the hero wearing a recognizable watch.

But Ladies First feels fundamentally different.

This crosses the threshold from subtle product placement into full narrative storytelling.

And somehow—remarkably—it still feels tasteful.

The film never feels like an advertisement. Instead, it feels like a commercially polished, emotionally engaging story that simply happens to have Guinness embedded into its DNA.

And that is precisely where the brilliance lies. The audience is not interrupted by advertising; the audience absorbs the brand emotionally through story, and that changes everything.

Why This Could Be the Future of Advertising

What makes this even more fascinating is that Ladies First sits within a broader collaboration between Guinness’ parent company, Diageo, and Netflix.

Alongside Ladies First, Netflix is also developing House of Guinness, a major drama series from Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight.

At that point, something becomes clear: This is not random branding; this is strategic cultural positioning at scale.

And honestly? It is an extraordinarily smart move.

Why? Because, unlike traditional advertising, streaming content has longevity, and this film will live on Netflix for years.

A billboard disappears, a radio commercial fades, and a television advertisement runs its cycle and ends. But a streaming film lives.

People will continue to:

• discover it,
• Watch it,
• discuss it,
• recommend it,
• and emotionally connect with it long after release.

I finished watching the film and found myself still thinking about Guinness afterwards.

Not because anyone aggressively tried to sell me Guinness. But because Guinness had quietly become emotionally attached to the following:

• humor,
• culture,
• modernity,
• entertainment,
• social relevance,
• conversation,
• and progressiveness.

That is no longer traditional advertising. That is cultural embedding.

Why African Filmmakers Should Pay Attention

African filmmakers should be paying close attention to this moment.

For years, filmmakers across the continent have tried to explain to brands that film offers something deeper than sponsorship visibility.

Film offers emotional longevity. It allows audiences to voluntarily engage with a brand through story rather than interruption.

And perhaps Ladies First finally provides a global example the industry can point to. For African filmmakers, especially, this could be transformational.

Historically, the continent’s film industry has relied heavily on:

• grants,
• fragmented private investment,
• government support,
• broadcaster financing,
• personal sacrifice,
• and unstable distribution systems.

But what happens when brands begin to view film as long-form advertising infrastructure?

Imagine:

• a telecom company funding a youth culture drama,
• a bank backing a prestigious political series,
• a beverage company driving a pan-African comedy,
• a tourism board financing historical storytelling,
• or a fintech company embedding itself into aspirational African urban cinema.

Suddenly, the financing conversation changes. Because now the filmmaker is no longer simply requesting sponsorship.

The filmmaker is offering:

• cultural relevance,
• emotional audience engagement,
• streaming longevity,
• long-tail visibility,
• and meaningful brand storytelling.

Storytelling Still Wins Attention

This shift matters even more today because audiences are increasingly fragmented across the following:

• streaming platforms,
• social media,
• gaming ecosystems,
• short-form content,
• and AI-generated media.

Traditional advertising is fighting harder than ever for seconds of attention. Storytelling, however, still commands emotional time. People skip advertisements. But they still willingly spend hours immersed in stories.

Which means the future may belong to brands that stop advertising to people—and start storytelling with them.

Africa’s Hidden Advantage

African storytelling is naturally:

• emotional,
• communal,
• symbolic,
• humorous,
• layered,
• musical,
• and socially conscious.

Storytelling is already embedded within African culture, and this gives African brands and filmmakers a major opportunity to innovate together.

Why Advertising Agencies Must Evolve

The future may no longer belong only to agencies that understand media buying. Instead, it may belong to agencies capable of the following:

• building worlds,
• shaping culture,
• commissioning stories,
• understanding streaming behavior,
• and emotionally positioning brands through entertainment.

Perhaps that is why it feels symbolic that the heart of Ladies First is an advertising agency itself.

Almost as though the film quietly whispers to the industry:

“This is where the future is going.”

Africa Has Seen Early Signs Before

In South Africa, MultiChoice’s Brand Studio has experimented with branded storytelling through reality TV and documentaries.

In Nigeria, The Men’s Club—backed by Amstel Malta—integrated brand identity into storytelling.

In Ghana, United Bank for Africa supported The Public Figure on REDTV as well as 13 Kinds of Women.

But Ladies First feels different. The brand is not decoration. It becomes part of the engine driving the story itself.

“Whether through direct financing, co-marketing commitments, narrative integration partnerships, or broader collaboration with Netflix, Guinness’ presence in the film signals a new level of brand-story integration.”
— Juliet Yaa Asantewaa Asante

Final Thoughts

Moving forward, brands, filmmakers, distributors, advertising agencies, and streaming platforms across Africa should pay close attention.

Because Ladies First may represent one of the clearest examples yet of where cinema, advertising, distribution, streaming, and storytelling are all heading next.

The future may not belong to brands that interrupt audiences. The future may belong to brands that are brave enough to become part of the story.

Source: By Juliet Yaa Asantewaa Asante
Filmmaker, Creative Entrepreneur, Policy Expert, Lecturer, and Cultural Architect

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