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Marketing terms reimagined as Game Of Thrones characters

This is what happens when you are a Marketing Professional and a die-hard fan of Game Of Thrones

Surbhi Jain 7 Stories

Monday July 17, 2017,

6 min Read

Game of Thrones is undoubtedly one of the most famous TV shows, so it only made sense for us to combine the two things we love – Marketing and gruesome bloodshed violence coupled with scheming, plotting, murders and deaths. Come to think of it, marketing and GOT has a lot more in common than you can imagine at first. Just like different houses are competing to descend the Iron throne of Westeros; brands are constantly vying for consumer attention and the one that wins gets to descend the throne of recognition. Oh and also, Spoiler Alert! We aren’t giving much away but still tread with caution.

Enjoy this read and let us know which character you think best represents a marketing term/strategy. Here we go!

1) Jon Snow: Content Marketing

At first it may seem like content ‘knows nothing’ and has no relation to marketing but in the end it will and has been established that content is king just like Snow. Like many bastard children, Jon had to learn to grow up quickly and he learnt to adapt, just as content is constantly evolving with changing times to maintain the impact it has been known to show. Jon’s journey from Winterfell to Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch to back to North as the King is a testament to his bold choices, leadership qualities and impact. Content hails the same journey, it creates loyalty and trust, helps brands build authority and credibility and most important of all positions itself as the king of all marketing strategies.

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2) Cersei Lannister: Offensive Marketing Warfare Strategy

Those of you who are unaware of Cersei –‘Queen of the Andals and the First Men’-you should know she is willful, cold, ambitious, and cunning in the sense that she is utterly willing to betray anyone who trusts her and will do anything to protect her own. Just like how in offensive marketing strategies a business needs to attack where the competition is most vulnerable and ensure that they target the weakness or one specific weakness in the competitor, Cersei also strikes where it hurts the most. Who knows what happened to Unella (septa) behind those closed doors?

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3) Tyrion Lannister: Guerilla marketing strategy

Tyrion has shown himself to possess a keen mind for strategy, as is evidenced in his research into defending against sieges and successfully conducting the defense of King’s Landing during the Battle of the Blackwater. He recognized from an early age that his mind was his greatest weapon, due to being born a member of House Lannister with the expectation of upholding his family’s noble name, yet lacking the physical attributes possessed by his older siblings (Cersei and Jaime). Similarly, guerrilla marketing is an advertisement strategy concept designed for brands to promote their services in an unconventional and creative way with little budget to spend. (Get it? Little?)

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4) Daenerys Targaryen: SEO and Social Media Marketing

Just as Social Media Optimization works behind the scenes and the consumers don’t know that brands are making an effort to do it, Daenerys Targaryen was persistently working towards increasing her troop size to invade Westeros and no one knew. She started off by being Khaleesi but gained other titles along the way: Queen of the Andals, the Rhoynar, and the First Men, Lady Regnant of the Seven Kingdoms, Protector of the Realm, Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, Breaker of Chains, Mother of Dragons, Queen of Meereen. She clearly ranks 1 in many lists.

When it comes to Social Media Marketing brands make an effort to create an online reputation, increase their followers and foster relationships with customers, isn’t that what Daenerys has been known to do as well? Moreover, she reciprocates the loyalty of those who follow her with gratitude and compassion, especially her inner circle of friends and her dragons, which is something brands do as well.

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5) Melisandre-The Red Woman: Psychology Marketing

Mysterious, esoteric, effective and powerful are adjectives that we feel are suitable for both, Melisandre and Psychology Marketing. Without getting much into the nitty-gritties, the gist is that Melisandre has magical powers, is a master manipulator and has the ability to bring back dead people to life! Similarly, psychology marketing plays on the power of mind and many successful marketers regularly employ psychology in appealing to consumers. Some do it legally, ethically, and respectfully and others…

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6) Hodor: Direct Marketing

Hodor is shown with an ordinary friendly simple minded personality getting on well with Lyanna, Ned, and Benjen Stark. There is nothing more than meets the eye, no hidden agendas and no plotting and deceit; just like direct marketing. It’s a method of contacting customers and potential customers personally, rather thanhaving an indirect medium between the company and the consumer, such as magazine ads or billboards that are seen by the general public. Direct marketing can take many forms, including mail, telephone calls, emails, brochures, and coupons. The information is usually very broad and works best for products that have a wide appeal. (Get it? Broad and wide?)

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7) Joffrey Baratheon: Market Manipulation

Joffrey was a cruel, arrogant, sadistic, malicious, and tyrannical ruler even by the standards of his time. He hugely enjoyed the agony of others, and playing sadistic games with them much like manipulation marketing. Manipulative advertising is deceitful and it uses confusing, misleading or clearly untrue statements when promoting a product, that’s why this advertising is also known as false advertising.

Joffrey was so blatantly stupid and aggressive that we don’t even want to give him the credit of being manipulative but well, the one thing that Joffrey and market manipulation have in common is that we all want them dead. Thank God one of them already is!

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8) Theon Greyjoy: Traditional Marketing

Hold your horses now, we are not saying that modern marketing strategies have castrated traditional marketing like Ramsay did Theon but in a much lesser magnitude digital marketing has definitely sidelined and tormented traditional marketing. Before his capture by Ramsay Snow, Theon is shown to be rather arrogant and vain, but not malicious. He enjoys his time under the sun, until he doesn’t (captive period). Similarly, traditional marketing is now a captive to digital marketing and there is no escape, atleast for now.