10 Marketing Gimmicks from Game Of Thrones That Will Work For You Too

HBO has mastered the art of marketing and used it to their advantage to make Game of Thrones a global hit. Here are some of the wild, wacky things that they’ve done, which really got people talking. 

1. #Winter is coming 

To promote season one of GOT, HBO placed huge posters of Ned Stark on the Iron Throne with the motto of House Stark – Winter Is Coming. This created awareness of the series and also piqued curiosity for those who didn’t know about it. They even went a step ahead and set up replicas of the iron throne in NYC, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and San Francisco. 

Source: https://bjorkbrothers.com/2011/04/15/ice-wall-iron-throne-and-pedi-cabs/ 

2. #RoastJoffrey

This was the first ever social media roast where people from Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Vine sent in their contributions. In just two days they had 60,000 roasts, 1 million interactions, and 850 million impressions.

Picture Courtesy - shortyawards

3. Beautiful Death

There was a 30-day countdown to season 4, the countdown featured 30 illustrations of significant deaths from previous episodes. Fans really got into the countdown because each piece was so well done, and they could also submit their own artwork! 

Source: http://imgur.com/gallery/uF1C3 

4. Game of Thrones-Themed Menu 

HBO managed to get Chef Tom Colicchio (from Top Chef) to create a menu inspired by the show. This food was served in branded food trucks across Los Angeles and New York City. Customers were encouraged to share their food photos over social media thus creating over 120 million impressions.

Picture Courtesy - Geek with Curves

5. Time to get Inked

For season two, HBO called in celebrity tattoo artist from NY Ink - Ami James to tattoo the house sigils of the show on their fans. About fifty fans who waited in line from as early as 2 a.m. managed to get Stark direwolves, Lannister lions, and Targaryen dragons tattooed on them.

Source: https://www.fastcompany.com/1680409/extreme-branding-50-megafans-get-free-game-of-thrones-tattoos 

6. Dragons Take Flight 

Imagine opening a paper and finding a huge dragon’s shadow on it. Well, that’s what HBO made a reality for its season 3 promotions. They had dragon shadows over buildings and buses too. It seemed like dragons were taking over and everyone loved it. 

Picture Courtesy - Fast Company Co.Create

7. Digital Iron Throne

This was a simple digital marketing plan in comparison to the previous ones. Fans were asked to tweet with the hashtag #TakeTheThrone. These tweets were then used to create a digital throne. Each fan felt like they contributed to the process and also helped the hashtag go viral. 

Picture Courtesy - creativity-online

8. Larger than Life Dragons 

UK movie and TV streaming service Blinkbox wanted to get people talking, so they created a massive dragon skull and placed it on a beach. The dragon skull was the size of a bus and anyone passing by Dorset beach could easily spot it. The media went crazy over this innovative marketing stunt and Blinkbox saw a huge growth in its revenue post this stunt. 

 

Source: http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2013-07-15/game-of-thrones-comes-to-dorset-as-giant-dragon-skull-appears-on-beach 

9. Chasing Dragons 

The digital marketing team at HBO really deserves a pat on their back for this idea. They came up with #CatchDrogo. Fans were asked to ‘catch’ Drogo with ‘bait’ from the "Drogon Bait Shop".  If fans spotted the dragon they were to quickly retweet it before he flew off. The winners were given access to unique content or actual physical prizes. 

Picture Courtesy - sanderwork

10. Ice and Fire

HBO tapped into the eagerness of its viewers to announce the date of the new series. They staged a Facebook live event that showed canons of fire slowly melt a block of ice. Within the ice was the date July 16, and 3.1 million viewers logged on to watch the ice melt! 

Source: http://www.adweek.com/tv-video/hbo-made-fans-watch-ice-melt-for-69-minutes-to-find-out-when-season-7-of-game-of-thrones-premieres/ 

These marketing ideas range from simple to outrageous and most of them can be implemented easily. To get a better understanding of marketing, sign up for Digital Marketing Courses or Online Courses.  

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