Case Study/ SKY, DDB & G.o.T

A social media campaign that reigns supreme Case Study/ SKY, DDB & G.o.T

The Story/ At a Glance/ Game of Thrones DDB New Zealand Season 4

Background/ 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 Game of Thrones is currently the world’s most popular to current SKY subscribers and to sign up new subscribers to SKY. with social campaign and talked about TV show. 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. SKY is the pre-eminent pay television broadcasting service countries that were previously lagging in New Zealand. SKY's principal business activity is the distribution • Analyzed the exposure, reach and impact the campaign had The Challenge/ of both local and international programe content to its subscriber on a global scale base, predominantly through a digital satellite network. 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. There are approximately 1.6 million households in New DDB realized that recommendations from friends would help drum up some interest in those who’d not been engaged. The agency Zealand. As of 30 June 2012, SKY's pay television services had to find a way of infecting New Zealanders who had dismissed Game of Thrones as ‘not for them’ with the same excitement and had a residential household penetration of approximately eagerness to see what’s next as has been seen in online communities, where conversation around GoT is colossal. 49.4% and an audience market share of approximately 29.8%. The Solution/ SKY also has the exclusive rights to broadcast Game of Thrones in New Zealand. 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 DDB New Zealand is the country's most influential advertising the attention of those who weren’t fans yet. The campaign group, comprising brand, digital, PR, experiential, design and 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 instore solutions all in one offering. 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. DDB works with clients such as McDonalds, Cadbury The most energetic of online discussions was centered on King Joffrey. No other TV character is hated as much as the arrogant and BMW. They have won numerous awards, including 43 and sadistic boy king in Game of Thrones. DDB realized they could rally the online community around their shared hatred for Joffrey the Most Effective Agency Of The Year award in 2012 million and make their passion for the show palpable across New Zealand. and 2013 at the New Zealand Effie Awards. people in168 By using Rules, Categories, Topics and Tagging processes in Brandwatch, DDB could compare the volumes and tone of different 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. Conversation on social media soon skyrocketed once onlookers recognized the significance of the figure and many started taking pictures The real world and sharing them with their social communities across the world. Every tweet that included the hashtag #bringdowntheking would meets the online/ 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. “Brandwatch helped us keep track of which An imposing effigy participants had the Global exposure Summary The agency decided to draw highest number of followers. Early on in the campaign, DDB By using Brandwatch Analytics a parallel with notorious real We would then engage tried to get the attention of traditional to optimize their activity, DDB world dictators. them further by giving media outlets, the idea being that was able to record almost To do so, they created a seven 875,000 individual interactions them special status this would form content that the metre statue of King Joffrey atop agency could then push on social relating to the campaign. a plinth, complete with a winch (e.g, an honorary member sharing platforms such as Reddit. ‘Brandwatch shines and a rope around the statue’s Brandwatch’s powerful news and by having not only powerful neck in scenes reminiscent of those of House Stark, including forum site coverage (and accompanying filters to look at subsections we’ve seen played out in history. visual badge to share)” filters) helped the agency keep track of the large data set, but also The statue was placed in a prime Michiel Cox of longform content about the campaign. by having a fast and responsive location: Aotea square. This large public Digital Planner, DDB interface that doesn’t get space in Auckland is often used for This attention came to fruition when in the way. Particularly useful open-air concerts, markets and, rather The agency charted the volume the campaign reached a significant is the ability to track a variety fittingly, political rallies. of mentions per hour, grouped by New Zealand audience through repeated of Facebook pages and group country, to examine the engagement coverage on New Zealand’s largest news these with wider queries.’ DDB then transmitted a live stream in each region. Once countries seen websites, various radio stations, and said Michiel Cox, from the square, which became to be lagging behind others were popular local social media channels. Digital Planner, DDB. Australasia’s largest live streaming identified, DDB reached out to local event in history. ‘Brandwatch was invaluable in working Game of Thrones communities “...the campaign reached out the exposure the campaign had in the native languages. 43 million people in 168 received in global media, the cumulative “ ...Australasia’s largest This sparked a much higher reach of the campaign, and the local countries, by using live streaming event engagement rate in Brazil and France impact seen through pictures taken and Brandwatch Analytics; DDB markets in which the agency had shared on Instagram’ said Michiel Cox, was able to record almost in history...“ originally struggled to generate Digital Planner, DDB. significant interest. 875,000 individual interactions...“ “ 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 About/ DDB

DDB New Zealand DDB Worldwide Brandwatch

DDB Group New Zealand DDB Worldwide Communications Brandwatch is one of the world’s is one of this country's leading Group Inc (www.ddb.com) ranks leading social media monitoring communications agencies. among the top five consolidated and analytics platforms. advertising and marketing services Comprising DDB, RAPP (digital Its technology gathers millions global networks, according and direct), Interbrand (brand /design), of online conversations every day to Advertising Age. Dynamo (communications planning) and provides clients with the tools and Mango (PR /experiential/events) Consistently one of the most to analyze them, enabling brands companies, each offering a distinct awarded networks globally for and agencies to make smarter, yet integrated communication creative excellence, DDB was data-driven business decisions. discipline. Renowned for creating Campaign's 2009 Global Network The company has won awards New Zealand's best loved work, of the Year, the 2010 Spikes Asia for its technology and renowned DDB is consistently recognised at Network of the Year, 2010 Eurobest corporate culture, and regularly wins home and worldwide for creating Network of the Year, 2010 Campaign accolades for its impressive growth. unforgettable, uniquely kiwi work Asia Pacific Creative Network The Brandwatch platform is used by that delivers outstanding results. of the Year and captured both the over 900 brands and agencies, Cyber Grand Prix and Film Craft including organizations such as Dell, Grand Prix at the 2010 International PepsiCo, Whirlpool, Kellogg’s For more information, please visit Advertising Festival in Cannes. With and British Airways. www.DDB.co.nz more than 200 offices in over 90 countries, the DDB Group helps For more information, please visit grow the value and influence of www.brandwatch.com leading brands around the world. DDB Worldwide is part of Omnicom Group Inc. (OMC) For more information, please visit www.DDB.com

@brandwatch | Brandwatch Blog | Brandwatch Facebook Page