And nothing creates a community like a rivalry, especially where each side has shades of gray.
Digital, AI-generated character posters, created in partnership with Media.Monks, added to the discourse, allowing fans to put themselves in artwork for their respective side. The posters also gave the series a worldwide push as Max continues expansion around the globe through Europe and Asia.
House of the Dragon’s digital poster generator, which is available globally in 9 languages, has already had more than 2 million posters generated since launching on June 10, according to the company. And it’s live throughout Season 2 in case any fans decide to change sides, which Barlow “fully expects.”
Raise your Baa-nners
Among the other campaign elements around the globe, in New Zealand, DDB Aotearoa and Neon put armor on sheep, dubbed Baattlewear, with different breeds siding with green or black. Plus, a partnership with Snapchat for a dual selfie and world view lens featured a high-fidelity dragon with audio machine learning (ML) capabilities, and HBO/Max has an “Iron Throne Room” on Apple Vision Pro.
The campaign culminated in a 270-foot dragon installation that recently appeared on top of the Empire State Building. ADWEEK previously reported that the installation had to pivot after bad weather delayed it a week. However, Barlow said the adjustment worked in House of the Dragon’s favor, with an inflatable of Vhagar, the biggest dragon in the show, appearing on the day of the premiere, a week after Team Green claimed the Empire State Building.
The House of the Dragon installation, which was done in partnership with the Empire State Building, included photo opportunities with the Iron Throne, early registration for Zynga’s Game of Thrones: Legends mobile game and had tens of thousands of visitors over the 10 days it was live, according to HBO.
Big risk, big reward
The Season 2 premiere drew 7.8 million viewers, which was 22% below the 10 million viewers House of the Dragon got on its Season 1 premiere night in 2022. However, HBO premiere night numbers are only a fraction of an episode’s final viewership, with Season 1 episodes growing to reach around 29 million viewers each.