Key Art Awards, Banners and Rich Media Advertising, Television

Video demo







OVERVIEW
HBO and AvatarLabs wanted to create a campaign that would be visually stunning, attention grabbing and sophisticated. playing up the show's fantasy elements in an accessible, broadly appealing way and generating excitement for season 3.

PHASE 1: TEASER - DRAGON SHADOW
HBO's print campaign featured large dragon shadows in a large print and outdoor campaign. Our challenge was to bring this concept to the digital space. To do this, AvatarLabs created a 3D model from scratch, staying consistent with the dragons seen on the show. This was done by breaking the wings into multiple pieces and working with a technique known as kinematics, the in-depth recreation of lifelike movement usually reserved for feature film animations. Through lighting and 3D modeling, a feeling of depth and dimensionality was achieved. Many versions were worked through in order to determine the best flight speed, number of passes over the page, wing flap and positioning.

PHASE 2: MAIN CAMPAIGN - CHARACTER FOCUSED
The second phase focused on the series of twelve character posters, bringing forth the season's themes of family and shifting loyalties. Each of the twelve banner versions featured video showing key scenes from the upcoming season. The video ended with a different edit tailored to feature each individual character, and we zoomed out through the eye of this character, resolving on the key art.

PHASE 3: OPENING WEEKEND - �THE WAIT IS OVER�
Racheting up the excitement in the final days leading up the premiere, a YouTube Masthead was created featuring a 10-second trailer cutdown by AvatarLabs. The piece featured much-anticipated footage of the dragons and key battle scenes.

RESULTS
According to EW.com, "Game of Thrones returned Sunday night to its most-watched episode ever. The third season premiere delivered 4.4 million viewers for its premiere at 9 p.m. and racked up 6.7 million viewers for the evening after its two repeats were tallied. That's up 13 percent from its first airing last year and represents a record for the show in both measurements."




Game of Thrones screenshot