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Leading up to its final season, the whole world wanted to be a part of the biggest show in the history of television. But in Game of Thrones, there are no easy paths to the Throne. So we asked the world one question, “How far would you go #ForTheThrone?”
When extreme winter weather caused an emergency blood shortage for the American Red Cross, a show known for its bloodshed rallied fans to make a blood sacrifice. Kicking off at SXSW before spreading worldwide, we saved an estimated 1 million lives and increased US blood donations by 12%.
Characters have sacrificed everything to sit on the Iron Throne. But in the real world, fans have had it far too easy. So, we turned the tables and put fans to the test—dropping 360 videos of six thrones in six secret locations all over the world. Putting the challenge out to fans to find them using only a few cryptic clues and hints within the videos: time of day, geography, weather, nature sounds and carefully planted Easter eggs. In the end, we drove 30,000 fans from 98 countries to travel a total of 4.5 million km to make their claim.
In the lead up to the premiere, different brands took us up on the challenge. Minnesota Timberwolves officially became the Minnesota Direwolves. Mountain Dew became A Can Has No Name. Johnnie Walker went beyond the wall. Shake Shack changed its entire menu into High Valyrian, and forced patrons to speak the language to make an order. This wasn't a joke, we teamed up with Game of Thrones linguist and creator of the language, Dr. David J. Peterson.
Over 100 brands got involved, making our simple challenge escalate in ways we could have never anticipated. And by the premiere of the final season, #ForTheThrone became inseparable from the series itself.
