The TV show Game of Thrones Season 4 premiere, in the Australasia region required pay TV service to increase awareness and  subscription. SKY challenged DDB Worldwide Communications to ramp up awareness using digital marketing tools in the hope of adding more subscribers to their services. The result was a campaign that reached 43 million people in 168 countries.

How did DDB Worldwide Communications achieve this daring feat?

 Marketer, Know Thy Product!

They analysed the show itself and viewed forums to see what fans of the show were discussing.

Seven metre statue of King Joffrey was erected in Aotea Square, one of Auckland’s largest public squares for the #BringDownTheKing campaign.

They found that there was almost unanimous hatred for the “boy King Joffrey”. They then created hashtags relating to the content of the show and what fans were watching. To measure success they analysed hashtag usage using a company called Brandwatch that has metrics to measure usage  and mentions.

Opinion Leaders

They also used thought leaders and opinion leaders to drive conversation and create debate. Utilising the psychological tool of FOMO (Fear of Missing out) as a lure to non-Thronies Into the discussion with Game of Thrones officiandos, DDB created a lot of interest and curiosity.  They rewarded Opinion leaders with Badges representing the various family crests of the warring families In the show.

#bringdowntheking

To add to the excitement they placed a huge statue of the most hated character smack bang in the city centre and invited social media users to topple the hated boy king. “Through an experiential and social media event, Game of Thrones fans are challenged to use their collective voices through the power of social media to topple the king, using the hashtag #bringdowntheking” reported the Campaign Brief at the time.

For More Information see:

https://www.ddb.com/

FOMO Definition

Thronie 

Campaign Brief