MOVIE ADVERTISING

EXTRA ACTIVITY - MOVIES

GAME OF
THRONES
Sonia Quintero Romero
Lidia Patricia López Álvarez
HBO’s fantasy drama series, Game of Thrones has taken over the world
since 2011 and it has broken all sorts of records from then. With eight years
of explosive drama and unexpected twists, it is time to say goodbye to
Westeros. This excellent show received 17.4 million views as reported by
The New York Times and one billion views globally according to Yahoo
Finance on opening day alone.

Whether you watch it or not, it is hard to ignore huge marketing

initiatives by HBO to build as much awareness as possible and by major
brands like Oreo, Mountain Dew or Adidas. Those brands are some of the
biggest sponsors. It is obvious that all those brands have nothing in
common with kingdoms, thrones or dragons, so it’s been very interesting
to see how they teamed up for campaigns using Game of Thrones themes.

Besides it is an award-winning show, there is just so much to learn from all

8 seasons. Take a look at some of the great marketing campaigns inspired
by Game of Thrones, and what lessons can marketers learn from them.
 A. Various ways
SOCIAL MEDIA
The show’s social media efforts, with a consistent use of catchy, well-paced hashtags, has helped
the movie is being
to ensure that every season has gained traction across platforms from start to finish. Ej:
#RoastJoffrey #CatchDragon #TakeTheThrone
promoted.
STORYTELLING
One particularly inspiring way Game of Thrones added a new layer of depth to its branded storytelling efforts is
through its dedicated Beautiful Death website.
A visually stunning, regularly updated space filled with eye-grabbing artwork and Top Trump-style guides to
commemorate all of the iconic deaths that have occurred throughout the series, the site attracts droves of traffic
regularly, offering yet another outlet for fans to engage with the show’s characters, plot and branding.
Another notable example of GoT-style storytelling are its live streaming experiences.
In one particular live stream, fans were invited to punch ‘FIRE’ into the comments section to ignite flamethrowers,
allowing them to immerse themselves in the Game of Thrones’ legacy. This formidable marketing initiative alone
earned 3.7 million views

COLLABORATION WITH BRANDS

As GoT emerged as such a commercial phenomenon, a plethora of brands the world over have been leveraging its
imagery, and name, to promote their products or services.
So, rather than sticking to its usual rules, HBO decided to commemorate the legacy of the show by having fun and
teaming up with brands that are incongruous to the nature of the show.
 Here are several of these masterfully
commemorative collaborations:
BUD LIGHT
For its 2019 Super Bowl commercial, HBO partnered up with Bud Light to deliver an epic visual display that
transforms from well, light, to the dark, ominous and edgy landscape that GoT is famed for in the blink of an eye.
This original take on the ‘Bud Knight’ from the book received mixed reviews but it remains one of the most impactful
feats of commemorative marketing delivered by the brand to date.

OREOS
Another Super Bowl offering, Oreo pushed the envelope by reimagining the show’s legendary title sequence - made
from Oreos cookies. This visually striking masterpiece received universal acclaim, with its accompanying hashtag
#GameofCookies earning notable levels of interaction on the lead up to the first episode of the final season.

MOUNTAIN DEW
In addition to this creative celebrity endorsed video, Mountain Dew commemorated the show by giving away blank
limited edition cans that feature GoT character names when they’re warm. These cans weren’t available in-store and
fans had to enter a contest or if they lived in LA or New York City, perform a task and enter an “ancient” password to
get their hands on one.
A savvy viral omni-channel marketing hybrid, the campaign created an enormous level of buzz during the weeks
leading up to the launch of season eight. https://youtu.be/VYuoBM9TT9Q
QUEST FOR THE THRONE SCAVENGER HUNT
In a brilliantly immersive marketing push, HBO launched a fan-led scavenger hunt, giving fans the chance to cross the
fourth wall and search for six Iron Thrones replicas, located in six destinations around the world.
By visiting the official GoT website, it's possible to view 360-degree videos of each Iron Throne, offering stunning
visual clues as to their whereabouts.
By creating the #FortheThrone hashtag and leaking content across various social media platforms, HBO created an
incredible buzz around the world as fans came together, both physically and digitally, to search for these most revered
inanimate objects.
Not only did this clever campaign give fans an extra layer of depth in their season eight viewing experience, but the
user-generated content produced since its launch served as another excellent commemorative outlet for Game of
Thrones. https://youtu.be/MRCwchR1d10

AMERICAN RED CROSS

A marketing initiative that demonstrates the gargantuan promotional power of Game of Thrones, Bleed For the
Throne is nothing short of epic.
An experiential campaign set up by the organizers of Austin, Texas’ iconic South By Southwest (SXSW) festival, GoT
fans were invited to enter an immersive set that allowed them to relive legendary moments when the show’s characters
literally bled for the throne.
With the core theme of this exhilarating immersive masterpiece (which included 80 performers, 100 pages of scripted
characters, and 62 pages of custom scoring) being sacrifice, the event leveraged the #ForTheThrone hashtag to
encourage fans to commit to donating blood to the American Red Cross.
Not only was the event formidable in every way, gaining a tremendous level of traction through social media but by
inspiring 350,000 fans to give blood, this double threaded campaign has proved to be the perfect commemoration of
such a special show.
 ADIDAS
CAMPAIGN
HASBRO
eleased a Game of Thrones-
Adidas Running created six new
themed version of Monopoly
designs for its Ultraboost shoes.
They were inspired by the colors of
Westeros, including specific designs

B. TYPES OF for House Stark and Lannister, two

designs for House Targaryen, the

ADVERTISING White Walkers, and the Night’s

Watch.

AND
PROMOTION
-Mesage Strategies Affective
association (Feel good ads (they give
you an emotion, affection
assosiation)
-Give the brand the desire social
-Raming effect (Understand information how
meaning
they show to you)
-Mesage Strategies Transform consumption
experiences (it can make the consumption
better)
 CINEMEX JOHNNIE
L´REAL
WALKER
L' Real decided to launch a Cinemex join the marketing The beverage brand decided to join
palette of shadows with bright strategies by broadcasting the first the marketing strategies of Game of
MEDIA
hues that refer to the kingdoms of chapter of Game of Thrones on its Thrones with the White Walker
CLASS Game of Thrones. screens. drink that refers to the famous
phrase of the series "Winter is here".

-Promote brand recall (Tv and

-Define the brand image (if the
- cinema)
characters would drink something
-Mesage Strategies Transform -Prymacy and recency effect (so you
in the series it would be this
consumption experiences could remember its beginning in a
liquor)
memorable way)
 C. ADAPTED TO DIFFERENT
COUNTRIES AND REGIONS

The marketing style of the advertising agency is the same in all countries, dark colors are used, emblems of
the series, and the winter, but it focuses on the throne and the dragon. the difference in each country is that
there was an analysis of the most important places for the placement of announcements, also in each country
the promotion of the series was placed in the media most used by each country, in Mexico the posters were
used more in the streets and in London, the promotion was used more in magazines and newspapers.

 D. GOT: MESSAGE TO DIFFERENT DEMOGRAPHIC GROUPS

GOT not only use it to focus on the objective of the people who already knew the book, but they also launched
a lot of marketing to different demographic groups to get their attention and create a hook of intrigue to see
the series.
They send the message to a lot of groups, and they use a media mix to get a effective target audience in a very
creative ways
 1. There will always be the risk of misunderstanding
1. American Red Cross (Leverage social
and if not thoroughly investigated you can offend a
disruption and cultural contradiction)
certain group of people or make mistakes like
2. Quest for the Throne Scavenger Hunt
racist.
(Define the brand image)
2. Although this proposal may define the brand, it
3. Social Media Hashtag (Persuade the
can also fall into the misinterpretation of the
consumer, Testimonial ads (make you
dynamics and take it in another direction.
popular if there is a match)
3. If your audience did not like your content, they
4. Mere exposure effect, this series began to
will most likely give you bad publicity.
appear on all kinds of products and
4. People can get bored watching so much of the
everywhere so everyone was talking about it.
series
5. Prymacy and recency effect, this series was in
5. If they didn't do it the right way, the series
charge of having a memorable beginning in
wouldn't have been as successful and their next
the cinema and an end that everyone wanted
series wouldn't be successful.
to see.
 CONCLUSION
Marketing has many ways for a brand, series, movie, among others to be successful and
if they know how to carry it well, it can benefit them in many ways. This series was
able to carry the way it handled itself before people, its image, its proposals always
consistent with each other despite collaborating with brands that often had nothing to
do with it, everything was a well-planned strategy and that is why This was so
successful at the time that people knew about the series and were interested in seeing
it.

REFERENCIAS
-Hearn, I. (2021, 5 febrero). 7 Creative Game of Thrones-themed Marketing Campaigns From Brands
You’d Never Expect. https://www.impactplus.com/blog/game-of-thrones-themed-marketing-
campaigns

-Hughes, D. (2020, 14 diciembre). The Promotional Legacy of Game of Thrones. Digital Marketing
Institute. https://digitalmarketinginstitute.com/blog/the-promotional-legacy-of-game-of-thrones

-Guess how many viewers tuned into the «game of thrones» season 8 premiere? (2019, 15 abril).
Yahoo!Finance. https://finance.yahoo.com/video/guess-many-viewers-tuned-game-184328719.html?
guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuc3BpY2V3b3Jrcy5jb20v&guce_referrer_sig=AQAA
ALrQ5Woyx7YjXD-aTHi1f51WCMT92nHhgViV2BSLilB9c8LFqWbd4mfm-
1H_grCfG5v1TIZDfpeFiT5JFtjGanw1ry_KHaHPeGQXKWaZvjNx4wT1xPiXMwQXl5OEoPaFmtVo3
UXScEhGFU5jp0wP3yp1U7SnPmRAr_eSjSU7hDWW

-file:///C:/Users/Sonia/Downloads/tvseries-323.pdf
REFERENCIAS
- Padra, Diana. "Las estrategias de marketing en Game of Thrones". (abril 9, 2019)
https://brandme.la/blog/las-estrategias-de-marketing-en-game-of-thrones/

-Grupoendor"GOT impactó con su Publicidad BTL: 5 increíbles momentos"(Octubre 3',2022).

https://www.grupoendor.com/increibles-momentos-en-los-got-impacto-publicidad-btl/

-OREO Cookie, (2 abr 2019),Oreo x Game of Thrones Title Sequence [Video]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmf-6TYjGuQ