The East Coast is likely tired of winter, but many will tolerate it a bit longer this Sunday, April 12 for HBO’s Game of Thrones season five premiere. Thanks to a wildly diverse marketing campaign, hype continues to snowball for the hit fantasy series.

The series’ marketing campaign kicked off in late January with the release of the final two episodes of the show’s fourth season in IMAX theaters. Game of Thrones grossed $1.5 million at the box office from Jan. 29 to Feb. 5, and unveiled the first trailer for season five, garnering 22 million views.

HBO then traveled to Austin for SXSW, where festival-goers got to enter SXSWesteros, an interactive experience recreating Arya Stark’s sword training. This “allowed fans to interact with virtual targets to create a beautiful and custom, graphic Game of Thrones-style self-portrait,” describes Johanna Scholl, HBO vice president of program advertising.

Fans could also take their picture on the Iron Throne, taste the newest Game of Thrones beer, Three-Eyed Raven from Brewery Ommegang and win prizes from social media-powered vending machines promoting the release of the “Catch the Throne” Mix Tape Volume II.

Game of Thrones also teamed with social media juggernaut Grumpy Cat for an unparalleled brand experience. Across downtown Austin during the event, HBO branded electric cabs, hotel shuttles and gave pedicabs Iron Throne extensions.

On March 23, HBO live-streamed the red carpet of the world premiere of season five in San Francisco on Facebook. The social media gambit, featuring interviews with the cast, reached nearly 8 million people.

You’d be hard-pressed to find a network more involved in social media, as HBO and @GameOfThrones has pronounced this the #MonthofGoT, with several trending hashtags, including #GoTSeason5, #FireAndBlood and #BreakTheWheel. Over the last week, HBO and HBO 2 have marathoned the best and worst #GoTBetrayals across their air.

To feed hungry fans season-five nuggets, #TheSight website delivered visions of the future, utilizing “Bran’s premonitions as a storytelling mechanism to fuel the rabid fan-base between seasons,” said Jim Marsh, HBO director, digital and social media. Users received a “dream-like video that offered clues to a season five plot point via text messages that disappeared after a single viewing,” he added.

HBO is embracing its fan community in other ways, with the crowd-sourced Game of Thrones Compendium, where Thronies submit art, fashion, food and other original content. The very best will be included in a printed, limited edition book provided free (and exclusively) to those whose entries are published.

With the premiere looming and Daenerys Targaryen’s most violent dragon Drogon still missing, HBO has launched one last social media campaign: #CatchDrogon, where those following Game of Thrones on social media “will be invited to #CatchDrogon by luring the dragon to them using bait from a custom Drogon Bait Shop housed on Giphy. This is an opportunity for HBO to bring GoT cast members, digital influencers, content creators and superfans around the world together to celebrate the new season and generate social conversation,” Marsh said.

Silicon Valley, Mike Judge’s comedy series premiering April 12 along with Game of Thrones, has also gotten in on the action with #ChattinThrones, a “byte-size commentary” series from some of the stars of the show.

According to Scholl, HBO has executed a two-pronged on-air strategy revolving around TV spots scheduled during March Madness and on “highly-rated, broad-reaching programming.” As evidenced by Kit Harington’s Jon Snow visiting Late Night with Seth Meyers for a dinner party, the week of the premiere brings “an impactful TV presence within a diversified slate of programming across late night, cable and broadcast,” Scholl said. In addition, digital media placements such as site takeovers, homepage roadblocks and pre-roll videos are expanding during the weekend of the premiere.

HBO is clearly doing an excellent job taking advantage of their massive property, but they aren’t resting on their laurels.

“Strategically, we can leverage the show’s massive popularity to build event-level buzz leading up to premiere. In that sense, it makes our job easier. But with great success come great expectations, and every year, HBO strives to raise the bar higher than the year prior—there’s a continual challenge to achieve bold key art creative, innovative media execution, and first-to-market promotions and stunts that eventize the premiere of the new season,” Scholl said.

While a network’s “clear objective [is] to retain audience year-after-year, audience growth is a welcome challenge. The show has defied most standard TV audience patterns and saw viewer expansion with the fourth season. Is audience growth possible for season five?” Scholl ponders.

In an effort to do so, the network has launched #GETHBONOW, an expertly timed 30-day free trial, but the answer to that question—like the proverbial winter—is coming April 12 at 9 p.m.

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