Game of Thrones Collaboration
role: strategist and copywriter partner: hbo awards: telly, gold addy, Lvmid
In the final weeks before the ending of HBO’s Game of Thrones, companies around the world looked to align themselves with the iconic show. MGM Resorts partnered with HBO and composer Ramin Djwadi to create a limited two-week run fountain show to celebrate the ending of the series.
The social media team wanted to tease the reveal of the Fountains of Bellagio show through a series of videos linking Las Vegas and the world of Westeros. I concepted and copy-wrote four of the six pieces that were released as the strategist overseeing the MGM Resorts handle at the time. With only the mysterious tagline of “3.31.19” - the date of the fountain show - the anticipation was built organically. We were re-tweeted by the official Game of Thrones and HBO Twitter accounts and highlighted by media around the world. On the night of the fountain show reveal, thousands of people showed up without an idea as to what they were about to see.
The power of social media and precise storytelling made this campaign MGM Resort’s most successful social campaign of all time.
We know things.
In the second piece we released, we capitalized on the iconic “I drink and I know things,” line from the show and shot in Park MGM’s NoMad Restaurant. The piece was picked up by the local news and the speculations of what “3.31.19” could possibly mean began.
A king’s lair arrives.
Casino chips are classic Las Vegas. The blink-and-you’ll-miss-it gold hand of The King Slayer is Game of Thrones. Both met in this video that was retweeted by the show and viewed by tens of thousands.
Walking into the flames.
Daenerys walked into the flames with her eggs. I (unnecessarily) wore a chef coat and pushed these eggs into a pizza fireplace at Bellagio’s American Cuisine classic, Harvest.
Things are not always as they seem.
For one of the final pieces, we brought the iconic ‘Red Wedding’ scene to the gardens of Bellagio. A woman wore a red, Vegas-sparkle dress and in the final moments she revealed that she had on chain mail. Because things are not always what they seem.
