Company: Hearts & Science, New York, NY
Company Description: Hearts & Science is a marketing agency recoding media for emotional connection at scale. On the pulse of the industry, Hearts & Science was founded with a special focus on data analytics and a foundation of heart.
Nomination Category: Marketing Campaign Categories - Industry
Nomination Sub Category: Marketing Campaign of the Year - Entertainment & Sports
 Nomination Title: House of the Dragon – US Launch
- Which will you submit for this nomination, a video of up to five (5) minutes in length about the nominated campaign or program, OR written answers to the questions for this category? CHOOSE ONE:
Written answers to the questions
- If you are submitting a video of up to five (5) minutes in length, provide the URL of the nominated video here, OR attach it to your entry via the "Add Attachments, Videos, or Links to This Entry" link above, through which you may also upload a copy of your video.
- If you are providing written answers to the questions for this category, you must answer this first question: Specify the date on which this campaign or program was launched:
May 5th ‘22
- If you are providing written answers to the questions for this category, you must answer this second question: Describe the genesis of the nominated campaign or program: the reasons it was initiated, the challenges it was created to address, the problems it was developed to solve, etc. (up to 250 words):
Total 241 words used.
The final season of Game of Thrones was highly anticipated, but NME reported fans found the show’s finale the second most disappointing ever. For House of the Dragon’s release, we were facing not only fatigue with the franchise overall, but potentially a sense of betrayal from fans, making them less likely to engage with new content from the GoT universe.
Our campaign needed to get lapsed fans to emotionally reinvest in GoT, and in the world of House of the Dragon.
We decided to use that passion for the series’ universe that had drawn fans in and kept them hooked, by taking the world of GoT into our own world.
First, we’d get people hooked by leaking additional lore and art, reigniting the fascination with Westeros and beginning a slow burn lead up to launch. As launch drew closer, we’d then begin to bring the world of GoT to life in our own world, with eye-catching OOH across major American cities and a healthy budget for traditional media to make sure word was spread.
Meanwhile, we’d also build a sophisticated infrastructure of bespoke partnerships with unconventional media outlets, engaging multi-screen viewers across diverse interests.
Fantasy fans view the world of Westeros as an escape. They invest in characters, storylines, and the decisions that alter fates. They revel in the fully-realized environmental details. This creative ethos guided our media partnerships and creative strategy, bringing the rich world of HotD to every universe.
- If you are providing written answers to the questions for this category, you must answer this third question: Describe the development of the campaign or program: the planning process, the goal setting, the creative and media development, the scheduling, etc. (up to 250 words):
Total 247 words used.
In the GoT universe, there’s one word that’s incredibly powerful. The command “dracarys” bids a dragon to incinerate everything in their path. That’s the kind of impact we wanted our campaign to have.
After an early start a year out on social media, where we dropped key art and other pieces of previously-unseen Westeros info, we built interactive 3D billboards featuring HotD’s iconic dragons, setting them loose across NYC/LA. Simultaneously, we took over 49 LiveNation concert venues in the U.S., populating 114 shows with dragon installations.
And since we knew our audience would come to us from a lot of different places, we used a range of unique partnerships to get the message out there. In the gaming world, we became the first in-game sponsor of the pro-eSport Championship League of Legends Series. We also created first-of-its-kind content on Roku home screens.
We even teamed with DuoLingo to teach fans High Valyrian (the show’s language). In addition to large spends on Twitter and Meta, we built custom dragon filters on TikTok and Snapchat.
With “Dragon Week” we took over iHeartRadio week on the airwaves with HOTD chatter, and flexed the WBD TV portfolio, using big name IP like Harry Potter to reach millions of US households on linear and digital.
Lastly, we made the premiere the event of the year. Partnering with Conde Nast, we threw watch parties in key cities, posting social content that coincided with digital banners across publications like GQ, Vogue, and Pitchfork.
- If you are providing written answers to the questions for this category, you must answer this fourth question: Outline the activities and concrete results of this campaign or program since the beginning of 2022. Even if your initiative started before 2022, limit your response to activities and results since the beginning of 2022 only (up to 250 words):
Total 176 words used.
There’s one sure-fire way to tell if your series launch campaign has been successful: your platform has so many users that it literally breaks. On premiere day, episode one reached 10 million viewers across linear and HBO Max platforms in the U.S., the largest original series premiere audience in HBO history. The platform actually broke down temporarily due to the number of viewers.
Within the first week, Ep1 tallied 25MM viewers, the fastest viewership growth ever recorded for a single episode in streaming history.
The campaign was an absolute triumph for HBO Max and WB-Discovery’s streaming prospects. Streaming subscriptions rose to a record 95 million across global customers on HBO, HBO Max and Discovery+ in Q3, a 23% increase vs. Q1, making HOTD #1 subscription driver for HBO Max.
From fanning the flames on social, to setting dragons loose across NYC skyscrapers, to sending League of Legends athletes on quests for Westeros banners, our campaign brought Westeros back with a vengeance, ensuring House of the Dragon was the biggest hit of the year.
“Dracarys.”
- You have the option to reference here any attachments of supporting materials throughout this nomination and how they provide evidence of the claims you have made in this nomination (up to 250 words):
Total 4 words used.
https://www.axios.com/2022/08/23/house-dragon-sets-hbo-record
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