Star World Premiere HD's marketing blitz for Game of Thrones S6

The much-awaited Season 6 of ‘Game of Thrones’ premiered on Star World Premiere HD on Tuesday, April 26, 2016, two days after its global premiere. Star World Premiere HD kick-started their campaign for the show with extensive on-air promotions. The promotions were carried across Hindi and English GE channels as well as sports and infotainment.

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 April 26 to ‘Find out First’.

The buzz only increased as the launch day approached 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 its viewers, but also to trade partners with a whole week of on-ground activations across eight 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 six-day long activity was a lead-in to the premiere of ‘Game of Thrones’ Season 6, comprising six different experiences curated around the ‘Game of Thrones’ theme. Star claims that participation of employees averaged over 70 per cent.

Keeping in mind the huge community of ‘Game of Thrones’ fans on the digital platforms, the channel decided to own Tuesdays as GoT Tuesdays and launched the Amazon Fanlords activity on Twitter. Starting four weeks prior to the show’s 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 15 million estimated impressions on an average, every Tuesday. The Tuesday to Tuesday activity commenced on March 29 and will continue till the show’s Season 6 comes to an end.

On Twitter, Star World Premiere HD initiated the ‘Flock to Unlock’ movement on April 25 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 response of 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 exclusive ‘Game of Thrones’ merchandises. The activity helped garner 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, Bandrain Mumbai, DLF Saket in Delhi and Forum Koramangla in Bangalore on the day of the premiere in the morning and evening. Some of the unsuspecting fans also received customised ‘Game of Thrones’ merchandise from the guards.

The ‘Game of Thrones’ launch was also celebrated all day long within the Star India office as well as a violinist played the iconic soundtrack live. An elaborate photo-op set-up provided an opportunity to GoT fans to join the ‘hall of faces’.

The show has also attracted a roster of big brands – Amazon has come on board as Presenting Sponsor, 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.