Case Study/

SKY, DDB & G.o.T

A social media
campaign that
reigns supreme
Case Study/ SKY, DDB & G.o.T
At a Glance/
DDB New Zealand
Background/
Game of Thrones is currently the world’s most popular
and talked about TV show.
SKY is the pre-eminent pay television broadcasting service
in New Zealand. SKY's principal business activity is the distribution
of both local and international programe content to its subscriber
base, predominantly through a digital satellite network.
There are approximately 1.6 million households in New
Zealand. As of 30 June 2012, SKY's pay television services
had a residential household penetration of approximately
49.4% and an audience market share of approximately 29.8%.
SKY also has the exclusive rights to broadcast Game of Thrones
in New Zealand.
DDB New Zealand is the country's most influential advertising
group, comprising brand, digital, PR, experiential, design and
instore solutions all in one offering.
DDB works with clients such as McDonalds, Cadbury
and BMW. They have won numerous awards, including
the Most Effective Agency Of The Year award in 2012
and 2013 at the New Zealand Effie Awards.
The Story/
Game of Thrones
Season 4
Key Benefits/ The Goal/
With the start of Game of Thrones (GoT) season 4, SKY saw an opportunity to promote its paid channel SoHo
• Recorded over 800,000 interactions
to current SKY subscribers and to sign up new subscribers to SKY.
with social campaign
SKY briefed DDB to create a tactical campaign on a relatively small budget that would convince New Zealanders to sign
• Improved engagement in regions and
up to SKY and/or SoHo.
countries that were previously lagging
• Analyzed the exposure, reach
and impact the campaign had The Challenge/
on a global scale
While Game of Thrones enjoys a high awareness, the audience SKY needed to reach had previously dismissed the show
as ‘not for them’. DDB knew this group was likely to ignore G.o.T related advertising on traditional channels.
DDB realized that recommendations from friends would help drum up some interest in those who’d not been engaged. The agency
had to find a way of infecting New Zealanders who had dismissed Game of Thrones as ‘not for them’ with the same excitement and
eagerness to see what’s next as has been seen in online communities, where conversation around GoT is colossal.
The Solution/
Appealing to existing fans was clearly not the primary goal of the project, but there was a good reason to target this
group. The momentum behind these fans’ excitement about the start of the new season was perfectly suited to generating
the attention of those who weren’t fans yet.
The campaign
To make it relevant to a New Zealand audience DDB had to strike a bridge between the passion for Game of Thrones on digital
reached
43
screens and with real life in New Zealand. By utilizing Brandwatch Analytics to listen to conversations around the TV show in New
Zealand, DDB was able to identify the most influential themes within the show.
The most energetic of online discussions was centered on King Joffrey. No other TV character is hated as much as the arrogant
and sadistic boy king in Game of Thrones. DDB realized they could rally the online community around their shared hatred for Joffrey
million and make their passion for the show palpable across New Zealand.
By using Rules, Categories, Topics and Tagging processes in Brandwatch, DDB could compare the volumes and tone of different
people in168
aspects of the show. King Joffrey was not only the most popular subject of discussion, but sentiment analysis also showed that
countries this subject drove the most passionate commentary - Joffrey is an intensely hated character.
Case Study/ SKY, DDB & G.o.T
A challenge was
posted to the world
It takes millions to bring down
a king, but does he deserve it?
Fans were then encouraged to
make their voices heard and bring
down the king through the power
of social media.

The real world

Conversation on social media
soon skyrocketed once onlookers
recognized the significance of the
figure and many started taking pictures
and sharing them with their social

meets the online/

communities across the world.

Every tweet that included the

hashtag #bringdowntheking would
turn the winch and pull the rope a
fraction tighter, eventually of course
toppling the evil king.

During the execution of the campaign,

DDB wanted to use the campaign to promote SKY’s passion Brandwatch was used extensively to
find opportunities to grow the campaign
around their content by doing something beyond the realms and to get more people involved, as well
as tracking and analyzing the usage
of traditional or digital media. of the hashtag.

An imposing effigy
The agency decided to draw
a parallel with notorious real
world dictators.
To do so, they created a seven
metre statue of King Joffrey atop
a plinth, complete with a winch
and a rope around the statue’s
neck in scenes reminiscent of those
we’ve seen played out in history.
The statue was placed in a prime
location: Aotea square. This large public
space in Auckland is often used for
open-air concerts, markets and, rather
fittingly, political rallies.
DDB then transmitted a live stream
from the square, which became
Australasia’s largest live streaming
event in history.
“ ...Australasia’s largest
live streaming event
in history...“
“Brandwatch helped
us keep track of which
participants had the
highest number of followers.
We would then engage
them further by giving
them special status
(e.g, an honorary member
of House Stark, including
visual badge to share)”
Michiel Cox
Digital Planner, DDB
The agency charted the volume
of mentions per hour, grouped by
country, to examine the engagement
in each region. Once countries seen
to be lagging behind others were
identified, DDB reached out to local
Game of Thrones communities
in the native languages.
This sparked a much higher
engagement rate in Brazil and France
markets in which the agency had
originally struggled to generate
significant interest.
Global exposure
Early on in the campaign, DDB
tried to get the attention of traditional
media outlets, the idea being that
this would form content that the
agency could then push on social
sharing platforms such as Reddit.
Brandwatch’s powerful news and
forum site coverage (and accompanying
filters) helped the agency keep track
of longform content about the campaign.
This attention came to fruition when
the campaign reached a significant
New Zealand audience through repeated
coverage on New Zealand’s largest news
websites, various radio stations, and
popular local social media channels.
‘Brandwatch was invaluable in working
out the exposure the campaign had
received in global media, the cumulative
reach of the campaign, and the local
impact seen through pictures taken and
shared on Instagram’ said Michiel Cox,
Digital Planner, DDB.
Summary
By using Brandwatch Analytics
to optimize their activity, DDB
was able to record almost
875,000 individual interactions
relating to the campaign.
‘Brandwatch shines
by having not only powerful
filters to look at subsections
of the large data set, but also
by having a fast and responsive
interface that doesn’t get
in the way. Particularly useful
is the ability to track a variety
of Facebook pages and group
these with wider queries.’
said Michiel Cox,
Digital Planner, DDB.
“...the campaign reached
43 million people in 168
countries, by using
Brandwatch Analytics; DDB
was able to record almost
875,000 individual interactions...“

About/
DDB New Zealand
DDB Group New Zealand
is one of this country's leading
communications agencies.
Comprising DDB, RAPP (digital
and direct), Interbrand (brand /design),
Dynamo (communications planning)
and Mango (PR /experiential/events)
companies, each offering a distinct
yet integrated communication
discipline. Renowned for creating
New Zealand's best loved work,
DDB is consistently recognised at
home and worldwide for creating
unforgettable, uniquely kiwi work
that delivers outstanding results.
For more information, please visit
www.DDB.co.nz
@brandwatch | Brandwatch Blog | Brandwatch Facebook Page
DDB Worldwide
DDB Worldwide Communications
Group Inc (www.ddb.com) ranks
among the top five consolidated
advertising and marketing services
global networks, according
to Advertising Age.
Consistently one of the most
awarded networks globally for
creative excellence, DDB was
Campaign's 2009 Global Network
of the Year, the 2010 Spikes Asia
Network of the Year, 2010 Eurobest
Network of the Year, 2010 Campaign
Asia Pacific Creative Network
of the Year and captured both the
Cyber Grand Prix and Film Craft
Grand Prix at the 2010 International
Advertising Festival in Cannes. With
more than 200 offices in over 90
countries, the DDB Group helps
grow the value and influence of
leading brands around the world.
DDB Worldwide is part of Omnicom
Group Inc. (OMC)
For more information, please visit
www.DDB.com
“ Brandwatch was
invaluable in working
out the exposure the
campaign had received
in global media, the
cumulative reach of
the campaign, and
the local impact.“
Michiel Cox
Digital Planner
DDB
Brandwatch
Brandwatch is one of the world’s
leading social media monitoring
and analytics platforms.
Its technology gathers millions
of online conversations every day
and provides clients with the tools
to analyze them, enabling brands
and agencies to make smarter,
data-driven business decisions.
The company has won awards
for its technology and renowned
corporate culture, and regularly wins
accolades for its impressive growth.
The Brandwatch platform is used by
over 900 brands and agencies,
including organizations such as Dell,
PepsiCo, Whirlpool, Kellogg’s
and British Airways.
For more information, please visit
www.brandwatch.com