In class we talked about the importance of having cohesive campaigns across digital and traditional platforms. If the two streams are not working together and subsequently sending out misaligned messages it will only confuse consumers. Regardless of how incredible and well thought-out the individual campaigns are, if they are battling against each other, the outcome will not be nearly as radical. The importance of cohesive campaigns across platforms as well as mediums is essential and I think HBO’s efforts with Game of Thrones exemplify this perfectly.

First, looking at their digital efforts, the brand is highly active over social media by participating in conversations as well as engaging fans during and in between seasons. As explained in my Why Game of Thrones Conquers Social post, they are active over multiple platforms keeping fans engaged during and between seasons. But what is amazing is how they are also equally active offline.

For season 1 they started things off with a bang to get the conversation moving. From one day to the next New York City was plastered with “Winter is Coming” posters of Ned Stark. “A Taste of the Westereos” food trucks with daily recipes created by Top Chef judge Tom Colicchio were stationed in New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Also, “Iron Thrones” would pop up around these cities for an epic photo backdrop. This whole campaign had one cohesive theme across their online and offline channels which was giving consumers the chance to experience the Westereos.

Ned Stark Season 1 Ad	“A Taste of the Westereos” Food Truck
Photo from Wikia	Photo from Tor.com

Jumping to season 3 (my favourite campaign of theirs to date), they certainly succeeded in creating buzz. The theme for new season was dragons. When the posters were released there were many fans disappointed with the simplicity.

Season 3 Ad
Photo from Tor.com

After letting the simple design simmer in the minds of fans for a few days, HBO then lived up to its reputation and overnight released their digital and traditional campaign. All of a sudden there were dragon shadows flying across the screens of sponsored websites (I tried to find a screenshot of this – but was unfortunately unsuccessful) The HBO headquarters had a huge dragon shadow print ad and the New York Times (yes, the New York Times) had a full page shadow. These are only a few select pieces of the campaign that really stood out to me, but they really exemplify how HBO’s Game of Thrones used a consistent theme across traditional and digital channels to amplify their advertising efforts. The theme of dragons was everywhere – and this gave fans the opportunity to interpret it as they wished and come up with their own theories and stories for the upcoming season.

The main takeaways from this post is the importance of cohesiveness across all channels – digital and traditional. This is only one example of how to do it right, if you have any other favourite campaigns that do a great job of online and offline consistency put it in the comments below!

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I’ve been asked this question in countless interviews and conversations and my answer doesn’t change. HBO’s Game of Thrones (which yes, i’m biased, it is my favourite show) blows me away each season with their cohesive campaigns.

Keep in mind that the book series had a huge fan base, and then there were those people who were very interested in the books but didn’t feel up to the daunting task of plowing 4,273 pages (and that’s just books one to five!). Creating the television show was bound to be successful, yet they had an incredible amount of drive behind their marketing campaigns, incorporating a number of digital platforms in addition to innovative traditional marketing.

Their most notable social media campaign was #RoastJoffrey which was launched in December 2013. Now, if you don’t know the series, Joffrey is the boy-king that is so ruthless and horrible fans love to hate him. This social media roast received engagements not only from fans, but brands and influencers as well reaching more than 60,000 roasts, 1 million interactions, and 850 million impressions in the first 48 hours (Also note that this was during the shows off-season).
Sourced from FastCompany

Photo taken from Lightly Buzzed

 Game of Thrones is recognized for killing off your favourite characters in horribly spectacular ways when you least expect it. Building off of this, they did a 30-day countdown to the season four premiere titled “Beautiful Death” which released photos depicting some of the most significant deaths across the series thus far. Not only did these photos receive engagement from fans, but also allowed them to submit their own artwork that could potentially be shared online. With some of the brand fanatics – this was exactly the opportunity they were looking for.

Photos Sourced from “Beautiful Death”

The show works masterfully across multiple channels from Twitter to Facebook to Tumblr. Another of my favourite pieces – that is so simple – is their Vine feed. Building up to a season premiere, they hype up the release of a teaser trailer across platforms, and then post previews (yes, previews of their previews) on their vine. The resources for this are minimal – the teaser is already made – just find an 8 second snipit to preview and watch it go viral.

These are only a few of the many digital strategies the brand has used to engage it’s audience and they all work seamlessly across platforms. Considering that the target audience of the television show is for young adults this is the perfect way to push marketing strategies as this demographic is highly interactive online. I always look forward to what they will come up with in the upcoming season – the anticipation is almost as much as I have when the show rolls around!

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