What was it?
DBB created a unique approach to digital marketing and attempting to bring new viewers in to watching GOT, by creating a conversation online with existing viewers. They identified King Joffrey as a universally hated charecter, and one which many viewers had the most passionate opinions about using brandwatches analytical tools. Their twitter campaign involved creating a real life statue of Joffrey being prepared to be hung, and invited twitter users to influence the outcome by turning the winch for every mention of the bringdowntheking hashtag. The campaign created large buzz, intially using tradtional media and relying on the sharing of that through online platforms like reddit. Throughout this Brandwatch was able to catch more analytics about the engagement of users, including where they were from and the level of their discussion. They were able to record 875,000 individual interactions, reaching 43 million people in 168 countries.
Why I think the objective may not have been met
While the reach of the campaign cannot be faulted, I would agrue the initial goal of DBB’s project was to attract new viewers rather than just start conversation between existing ones. While I understand creating a buzz may attract new viewers, it could also make viewers who have not seen the show to stay away as the feel excluded from the conversation and feel it is too late to join. Rather than hearing the conversation and wanting to start watching they feel even more excluded.
What did the case study show
The case did however show the power of social platforms like reddit and twitter and the amount of conversation and engagement that can be achieved when a company can find a common topic with people. Add an interactive element like the statue and it encourages people to join the conversation and gives incentive to. They also utilised the power of traditional media and created a campaign that reached many millions of viewers on a budget that would normally only meet a fraction of the amount, and was hailed as one of the best social media marketing attempts that year.
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