SKY, DDB & Game of Thrones: A Social Media Campaign That Reigns Supreme

Summers span decades. Winters can last a lifetime. The struggle for the Iron Throne has begun.

Game of Thrones is one of the hottest series on the planet right now. Having just finished its fourth series, and with a further run already commissioned, the show continues to grow in popularity and success.

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 The Goal – Strength in Numbers

With the start of Game of Thrones season four, Sky – who have the exclusive rights to broadcast Game of Thrones in New Zealand – saw an opportunity to use the excitement and anticipation of Game of Throne fans around the new series to drum up interest in their channel and increase subscription numbers.

 The Challenge – Engaging with Detractors

DDB – the agency Sky chose to run the campaign – had to find a way of infecting those who had dismissed Game of Thrones as ‘not for them’ with the same passion and enthusiasm as online communities, where conversation around Game of Thrones is colossal.

 The Solution – Online Influence

By utilizing Brandwatch Analytics to listen to conversations around the series, DDB were able to identify the most influential themes within the show.

Using Rules, Categories, Topics and Tagging processes in Brandwatch, DDB could compare the volumes and tone of conversation around Game of Thrones.

‘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.’ says Michiel Cox, Digital Planner, DDB.

King Joffrey – probably the most hated character from the TV show – was not only the most popular subject of discussion, but sentiment analysis also showed that this subject drove the most passionate, or emotive, commentary.

 The Real World Meets The Online

The campaign DDB orchestrated went beyond the realms of traditional or digital media, with an original and inventive approach that certainly got the attention Sky and DDB hoped for.

Global Exposure

DDB wanted the campaign to grab the attention of traditional media outlets. Brandwatch’s powerful news and forum site coverage helped the agency keep track of content about the campaign.

‘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’ says Michiel Cox, Digital Planner, DDB.

Want to learn exactly how DDB reached 43 million people in 168 countries and recorded almost 875,000 individual interactions?

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