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Sky brings Game of Thrones back to Aotea Square, asks Kiwis to choose between Iron Throne and British Monarchy

So regularly was Sky TV’s ‘Bring Down the King’ promotion for season four of Game of Thrones awarded at the recent Axis Awards that host Jesse Mulligan at one stage sarcastically quipped “you might’ve heard of this campaign,” before handing out yet another gold to ‘Bring down the king’. And the campaign has certainly travelled around, picking up a slew of gongs for DDB on the international circuit.

Now, following on from the success of this campaign, DDB and Sky have again combined social media and experiential elements for the promotion of the latest season of the hit show.

But this time, instead of erecting a statue of the dearly departed King Joffery, the team has placed a replica of the Iron Throne in Aotea Square.

This experiential execution links to an online campaign that invites Kiwis to vote for whether they think New Zealand should be ruled by the Iron Throne or Windsor Castle.  

Join us! http://skynz.co/1IHy2O1

Posted by SKY TV on Tuesday, 7 April 2015

 
The campaign also includes a quirky video that prompts viewers to visit the ‘Change The Throne‘ website to “pledge allegiance to the throne that gets things done.”    

Once viewers visit the website, they are asked to share their names, email addresses and signature to join the cause to have the nation governed by the Iron Throne.

“We wanted an idea for a campaign that would create the same kind of participation and loyalty as the show itself,” says DDB’s chief creative officer Damon Stapleton. “What’s a bigger question than asking Kiwis which royal family they’d prefer to rule New Zealand?”

The signatures of those who sign onto the campaign are then added to a giant unfurling scroll also located in Aotea Square (those who recruit the highest number of supporters will be placed higher on the scroll). In order to give Kiwis further impetus to sign on the website carries the promise that if enough names are to petition, it will be presented to “the highest order of the land”. And if the previous campaign is anything to go by, then this shouldn’t be too much of challenge.

“Game of Thrones fans are such diehard supporters, so it’s highly likely they’ll jump at the chance to swap out the monarchy for one that rules with a sword, punishes with a sword and even parties with a sword,” says Sky’s director of marketing Mike Watson. “So if you’ve always fancied the idea of riding a dragon to work, here’s your chance to sign up now.”

And as with any political campaign, supporters are also furnished with propaganda material in order to support the cause (presumably on social media in this case).

 

Interestingly, the link between the fictitious Kingdom of Westeros and the British Monarchy has previously also been drawn by John Oliver in one of his entertaining rants on Last Week Tonight.     

 The campaign is set to run until 13 April.       

Credits:

SKY
Director of Marketing: Mike Watson
Product Marketing Manager: Lara Christie 
Marketing Manager: Kate Whittle 
 
DDB
Chief Creative Officer: Damon Stapleton
Executive Creative Director: Shane Bradnick
Creative Director: Chris Schofield 
Digital Creative Director: Hayden Kerr
Copywriter: Rory McKechnie
Art Director: Nicole Sykes 
Production Manager: Julz Lane
Digital Designer: Jason Vertongen
Digital Producer: Liz Knox
Developers: Braden Wikohika, Cameron Crosby
Group Account Director: James Blair
Senior Account Manager: Katya Urlwin
Retoucher: Gordon Moir
Designer: Paul Edwards
Production Design: Bootleg
Sound Design: Liquid Studios 
Mango Communications: Sean Brown, Eleisha Balmer

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