Leading into its third season, Game of Thrones was poised to make the leap from popular television show to global sensation. To fuel this, HBO and Definition 6 created the Join the Realm sigil creator, a mobile social application designed to drive awareness for the global premiere using highly personalized, spreadable media. Join the Realm quickly became a phenomenon, receiving over 1.2MM visits and flooding social channels with over 750k sigils. Game of Thrones fans across the world are extremely passionate and demonstrate a deep desire to get as close to world of the show as possible. The Join the Realm mobile experience was social by design, by opening the door to fans to become a part of the show in a personalized and shareable way. The global mobile application allows users to create their own coat of arms like those featured in the show. Optimized for smartphones, tablets and the latest browsers, the app supports 24 languages and lists all 192 of the UN countries in the “House Location" dropdown. Customization options are extensive; from direwolves to pizza, there are over 100 icons representative of everyone. Fans can input their own motto and select different colors, layouts, and borders, to create their own unique family crest that represents them in the worldwide fan community. Sigils can be easily shared and exported as Facebook cover images, Twitter headers, Instagram photos and wallpapers. For those overwhelmed by all of the customization options, an auto-generate feature instantly creates randomized sigils. As an added bonus for die-hard fans, the app is also available in Dothraki, one of the many fictional languages created for the series. Join the Realm entered the zeitgeist by inspiring creativity and providing access to the world of the show. It spiked word of mouth awareness, helping the premiere to set a record for highest viewership ever seen by the series and generating more social volume than any premium cable show. Furthermore, it gave viewers all over the world a way to publicly declare their passion, cementing Game of Thrones’ position as a cultural phenomenon. The Join the Realm sigil creator quickly became a phenomenon, receiving over 1.2MM visits and flooding social channels with over 750k sigils. Much of the app’s success can be attributed to its appeal to both die-hard fans and the mainstream. It proved to be highly relevant and adaptable, as the online community created sigils for NHL teams, Marvel superheroes and fictional characters. Other brands jumped on the trend, including ESPN who created sigils for “Around the Horn." Influencer box recipients engaged their followers and @gameofthrones to share their delight, generating 34MM earned impressions. Lastly, the real-world Join the Realm at Comic-con garnered over 4k visitors over 4 days. Join the Realm spiked word of mouth awareness, helping the premiere to set a record for highest viewership ever seen by the series and generated more social volume than any premium cable show ever. Furthermore, it gave viewers all over the world a way to declare their passion, cementing Game of Thrones’ position as a cultural phenomenon.
