Season 6 of the greatest show in the history of television premiered on Star World Premiere HD yesterday. Game of Thrones, the ultimate television series created by D.B. Weiss and David Benioff, is not only a remarkable show with an impressive 9.4 IMDB rating but is also the most talked about show around the globe and on social media. In fact, the previous seasons of the series went on to win an astounding 190 awards and 511 nominations which includes prestigious awards like the Golden Globes, Emmys, Critic’s Choice, British Academy Television Awards, Screen Actors Guild and People’s Choice.
When a show this iconic meets the most premium English entertainment channel in India, it deserves an epic marketing approach and that is exactly what Star World Premiere HD did! The channel that pioneered the day and date movement in India has been up and at it to promote the latest season of Game of Thrones with a focused and strategic marketing approach across key metro cities Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore.
Star World Premiere HD kick-started their campaign with extensive on-air promotions, taking advantage of Star’s wide network reach. The promotions were carried across Hindi and English GE channels as well as sports and infotainment, thus reaching out to all audiences. The mystery around the events of Season 6 has been building as no one knows what will happen next, and Star World Premiere HD brought this very insight alive with their campaign ‘What does the future hold?’ Viewers were urged to tune in to the channel on 26th April to ‘Find out First’. The buzz only increased as the launch day appeared with countdowns across the network till the very last minute. But the buck did not stop here. The channel spread the excitement not just to it’s viewers but also to trade partners with a whole week of exciting on-ground activations across 8 media agencies in Bangalore, Mumbai and Delhi. The employees of these agencies experienced virtual sword fighting, traded character cards, were welcomed by a violinist playing the title track at the entrance in the morning and much more. This 6-day long activity was a lead-in to the premiere of Game of Thrones season 6, comprising of 6 different experiences curated around the Game of Thrones theme. In fact, participation benchmarks were crossed and beyond averaging over 70% as the employees participated with much anticipation and gusto.
‘Game of Thrones’ fans are extremely active on the digital platforms, and it was only fitting that the channel went all out online. The channel decided to own Tuesdays as GoT Tuesdays and launched the Amazon Fanlords activity on Twitter. Starting 4 weeks prior to the show launch, every Tuesday, Twitter users could engage in contests, activities and win exclusive Game of Thrones merchandise as they became the Amazon Fanlords. The contest garnered a whopping 15 million estimated impressions on an average, every Tuesday. The Tuesday to Tuesday activity successfully commenced on March 29th and will go on till the show’s season 6 comes to an end.
The marketing approach was taken a notch higher as the launch approached. On Twitter, Star World Premiere HD initiated the one-of-a-kind ‘Flock to Unlock’ movement on 25th April to bring together fans of the show in a distinctive manner. Fans were encouraged to tweet to unlock a Game of Thrones musical promo that would be released for the first time in India. The activity garnered a stunning response – 74 million estimated impressions and was trending nationally for several hours. On the launch day, GoT Tuesdays gained the highest momentum as Amazon Fanlords was not only expanded to a day-long contest online but continued on air during the episode. Viewers could answer questions during the episode itself too, to win the most exclusive Game of Thrones merchandises. The activity helped garner an astounding 107 million estimated impressions.
The channel brought the world of ice and fire to Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore with a distinctive on-ground crusade for its fans. The channel took its fans by surprise by positioning gothic Game of Thrones themed guards across popular locations – near the Bandra Worli Sea Link and Carter road, Bandra in Mumbai, DLF Saket in Delhi and Forum Koramangla in Bangalore on the premiere day in the morning and evening. Some of the unsuspecting fans even received customized Game of Thrones merchandise from the guards specially made available by Star World Premiere HD.
The Game of Thrones launch was celebrated all day long by Game of Thrones fans not only outside, but within the Star India office as well as a violinist played the iconic Game of Thrones soundtrack for all Star employees, LIVE! Not only that, Game of Thrones fans were also given a chance to enter the realm of Game of Thrones and join the hall of faces through an elaborate photo-op set-up.
The show has managed to lure viewers and attract advertisers alike with a roster of big brands associating with it. E-commerce giant Amazon has come on board as Presenting sponsors, Maruti Suzuki Baleno is a ‘driven by’ sponsor and London Dairy and Ola Micro are ‘powered by’ sponsors. Additionally other brands that have come on board are Housing.com, Matrix and Motorola as partners and Essilor, Yamaha, Himalaya and Sunny Lite as associate sponsors.
With Star World Premiere HD’s innovative marketing campaign, Game of Thrones now is not just the best television series but also a triumph of excellent marketing practice in India.
