Challenge

Game of Thrones season 8 was coming, and NOW TV challenged us to increase users’ desire to stream and raise brand awareness in the lead up to season 8. We needed to demonstrate to as many users as possible that NOW TV was the exclusive place to view not only the final season, but also seasons 1-7, and was tasked with transcending BAU activity and putting together a truly innovative campaign.

KPIs were:

  • Utilise new channels & initiatives which result in a 60% increase in clicks and revenue YoY
  • Increase Brand awareness and engagement to increase conversions by 60% YoY
  • Demonstrate that NOW TV is the exclusive place to watch GoT Season 8

Solution

The core objective which NOW TV set out was to increase users’ desire to stream, and raise brand awareness in the lead up to season 8. We needed to demonstrate to as many users as possible that NOW TV was the exclusive place to view not only the final season but also seasons 1-7 including, new, existing and lapsed customers. There were a number of KPIs that would ultimately help us achieve this main objective. These were: Utilise new channels & initiatives which result in a 60% increase in clicks and revenue YoY Increase Brand awareness and engagement to increase conversions by 60% YoY Demonstrate that NOW TV is the exclusive place to watch GoT Season 8.

Process

Breaking our execution down into three parts:

1) Launch,

2) Data Collection,

3) Retargeting and Engagement

We combined several unique elements to drive the campaign forward. These elements were:

1) Launch – Rich discount for the launch of our campaign with 50% off NOW TV’s Entertainment Pass, marketed to our 14million users

2) Data Collection

  • On-site competition
  • Social engagement microsite: What GoT character are you?
  • Geo listening in Harry Potter World & UK Cinemas, capturing 40k qualified and engaged users

3) Retargeting and Engagement

  • We then executed the retargeting of users captured in phase 2
  • We worked with two Instagram influencers with a previous expression of GoT interest and strong previous engagement
  • And we set up a second Paid Social microsite

Creativity & innovation

NOW TV’s requirements meant we could explore activity we had not before pursued with the brand. Utilising influencers, pushing content and engaging users through paid social and microsites to create a buzz (through user involvement via a discount code) were all areas we had yet to tap into during our partnership. This meant we could channel the build-up to the season finale and convert users on our site via engagement polls and quiz participation.

We collected data from a number of sources, plus existing data from past Game of Thrones campaigns, while also engaging with new users – all of which can bolster the performance of future campaigns. Throughout the campaign, we acted as an extension of the NOW TV brand.

To ensure we reached as many users as possible we strategically placed on-site exposure with The Mirror, Mumsnet and The Guardian, as well as the Groupon and Vouchercloud platforms. Bringing the uniqueness of the Groupon Reach Network to the forefront allowed us to send users to each platform from various channels we were using to increase traffic. Paid search, social, and targeted email sends built leakage-free user journeys to maximise the number of leads generated.

Result

Overall, this was the most successful campaign we have run to date with NOW TV, achieving the highest revenue, subscription sales, new customer acquisition and overachieving on all KPI’s set pre-campaign. Based on the existing objectives, we successfully built brand awareness, conversions, over delivered on revenue targets, and positioned NOW TV as the only home of Game of Thrones season 8 in the UK and ROI. Benchmarked against the initial objectives, we achieved:

  • A massive revenue increase of 455%
  • Subscription sales increased 402%
  • A click increase of 107%

Via our social media brand engagement strategy, we drove 850k+ combined reach with a combination of 194k followers. Our chosen influencers managed to secure, 7k post likes, 205 comments and 50 competition entries. Overall, in line with increasing brand awareness during peak period, a huge 30% of customers were brand new to NOW TV, with 70% consisting of returning customers. Lapsed customers made up just 15% of this total.

The significant results we achieved here were met, in large part, due to the clear and decisive objectives set initially. Combining brand awareness with direct and actionable results was certainly a challenge, albeit one we met head-on. Generating a 455% increase in revenue along with a direct sale increase of 402% year on year was a huge achievement; one that could only have come from a combined and continually successful strategic offering.

Conclusion

Ultimately the NOW TV brief enabled us to tap into all areas of The Groupon Reach network, leaving no stone unturned when it came to driving them incredible levels of engagement across a truly exciting and unique campaign.

Influencers, whitelabel activity, microsites, competitions, rich offers, paid social, geo listening and retargeting all came together to deliver a KPI hitting campaign that we, and the client, were really proud of.