At The Tomorrow Lab Presents on 25th May 2017, Brian Harte from Tourism Ireland talked about how they craft the conversation around tourism in Ireland on social media, particularly their Game of Thrones campaign.

1. Crafting the Conversation
Featuring: Making Northern Ireland
“Game of Thrones Territory”

2. 1. Effective content
2. That cuts-through
3. Drives engagement
4. Delivers conversion

4. Island of
Ireland
Marketing
Overseas

5. 22 Markets
£28 million
150 People

6. “Winning people’s attention through activity that
talks to their interests,
that brings the Ireland brand to life, and
that encourages them to interact with it
and with each other.”

7. 7

8. 16 million 3 million

9. 9
THE AIM:
Capitalise on the
success, reach and
fan base of the show
to promote Northern
Ireland as a holiday destination

11. Join existing fan conversations
with content that captures their attention
Letting us authentically contribute &
become part of the conversation
and promote Northern Ireland as
the home of Game of Thrones

13. Promoted Tweets
Raise awareness and join
conversations as they
happened
Page Post Link Ads
Drive engagement and
traffic through
to Ireland.com

15. • £1.3m earned media from £175k investment
• Up to 17% engagement on Twitter at €0.09
• Visitors to NI increased by 11% over the period
=> Visitors to GOT experiences grew ten-fold

16. THE AIM:
Continue to bridge the gap
between the fantasy of GOT
and the reality of Northern
Ireland to reinforce Northern
Ireland as home of GOT
territory

17. A series of stunts, live in Northern
Ireland, blurring the lines between
the real world and that of Game of
Thrones
Captured as stills and video and
distributed across Facebook and
Twitter over a 12 week period

18. Content that literally brought
the show to life…

20. PRESS CONTENT
Press events at each stunt to
build buzz and consumer
awareness
SOCIAL ASSETS
The core content created
from the stunt – distributed
via paid placements
INFLUENCER EXCLUSIVES
Sent to influencers the day
the action was live,
encouraging them to post as
an exclusive “first sight”

21. • 4 Facebook videos exceeded 4.5 million views
with engagement rates exceeding 40%
(2 million earned impressions)
• Twitter engagement rates up to 7%
• 38k likes & 1,450+ comments per Instagram post
• Top 10 GOT Reddit posts

22. Our total earned
media value
was £113 million
50 x paid media

23. THE AIM:
Utilise the people, culture
and landscapes of Northern
Ireland to celebrate its role
as the home of Game of
Thrones, and create lasting
legacy that fans can visit

25. Content populated by
characters or stunts that
literally brought the show to
life…

28. Doors of Thrones!

30. A series of highly shareable
content created in Northern
Ireland over 10 weeks
10 x Short films (20-30”) & Stills
1 x Intro Making Of film (90”)
1 x Finale Making Of (2m30”)

31. Inspired by the strongest
known metal in the 7
kingdoms, we re-created
Valyrian Steel from the raw
materials of Northern
Ireland. Merging myth and
reality by creating a
collection of Kitchen Knives,
displayed in Belfast’s own
Michelin star restaurant, Ox.
1 x Making Of film
1 x suite of stills

32. To help highlight that Game
of Thrones Territory is a
place that tourists can
actually visit we created a
series of 10 uniquely
designs stamps and
released them week-by-
week
10 x sets of physical
stamps distributed through
influencers worldwide
11 x Stills

33. 33

35. PRESS CONTENT
PR activity at launch,
at each creative burst &
a culmination release
SOCIAL ASSETS
Core content distributed via
paid & organic placement:
Facebook (video), Twitter &
Instagram (stills)
INFLUENCER OUTREACH
Sent to most popular GOT
bloggers the day the action
was live

36. • Facebook campaign reached 35 million people
– 33% earned reach
• 17 million Facebook video views (at 1p CPV) with c.30%
engagement rate
• Twitter engagement up to 8% (13p CPE)
– 20% earned reach
• Social Influencers delivered 56 million reach &
1.5 million engagements for £1,130

37. Publicity
value of
£15+ million

38. 38

39. 1. Effective content
2. That cuts-through
3. Drives engagement
4. Delivers conversion
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40. 1. Connect with your consumers’ interests
2. An engagement focus can maximise earned media
3. Deploy a cumulative asset suite with a narrative flow
4. Match the right content format with the right channel
5. Topicality supercharges shareability
6. Leverage the power of community (& their influencers)
7. Think “real world” opportunities as well as digital
8. Link with purchasable product to convert the sale

41. Thank you
Q&A