GoT Final Season: A True Cultural Moment for Brands

Every summer during the past 8 years, Sundays were marked as a holy day bringing friends and families together (or apart). We’re talking about Game of Thrones.

It’s become a household name, a conversation topic for both viewers and nonviewers, and with the finale this year, brands have gone all in to take advantage of this cultural moment. We’ve seen bigger plays such as Oreo’s limited-edition of insignias on the cookies and Mountain Dew temperature-triggered Arya’s kill list revealed, both receiving love all over social media. Starbucks unintentionally took part in this when a scene accidentally featured a Starbucks to-go cup in front of Emilia Clarke, resulting in about $2-3 billion in free advertising with #StarbucksCup uproar.

Over 100 brands have partnered to incorporate GoT in the consumer journey, from SuperBowl TV ads to packaging, and products and merch, and even tattoo designs.

What does this mean? It means that brands are taking “cultural moments” farther than traditional tentpole events, like the Oscars and Super Bowl. We’re not only looking for the next Super Bowl, but we are looking for the next Game of Thrones.

What does this mean for us? It means that it’s time to rethink the definition of “cultural moment”, as something that people are waiting for, rather as an opportunity to shape how people think such as the Curly fry moment.

Chipotle Offering Buy One, Get One Free Burritos for Teacher Appreciation Day

Chipotle celebrated National Teacher Appreciation Day post 3pm by giving away a free burrito, burrito bowl, salad, or order of tacos with the purchase of another menu item for teachers and school staff. It’s a buy-one-get-one free situation.

Releasing the following statement, Chipotle: “believes that cultivating a better world begins with education… Our annual Teacher’s Day BOGO is just one token of appreciation we have for all the educators across the nation.” Chipotle are not the only location that ran offers for the day, but they were the most compelling compared to other locations that offered discounts and/or add-ons which made them stand out amongst the competition.

How can Jack roadmap a promotional calendar based on supporting national celebrated moments, outside of LTO’s specifically?

The Fyre Effect: More Questions Are Being Asked of Influencer Marketing

In the wake of the disastrous Fyre Festival, big brands are taking a closer look at their strategy with Influencers. The most important take-way of the entire Fyre Festival Marketing campaign is that the Influencers had little idea of the event they were even sponsoring/ supporting. It also sparked concern with Influencers to make sure they are working for brands who are aligned professionally and personally to their interests.

Trust is an important factor, both between the Influencer and brand, and the audience and Influencer. The main advantage of working with Influencers is that fans have high brand loyalty when peers and are “real human” advocates; so, having a face that represents a brand is extremely important as audiences will have a more genuine connection with those brands who utilize influencers with shared values. – i.e. Hispanic influencer for Hispanic strategy etc. Our iPropect team goes through a multi-step process that involved actively vetting influencers to make sure the individual is the right fit for the brand. For Jack Influencers, we specifically wanted to choose people who are excited about the brand and genuinely wanted to work with Jack in the Box vs. paying a big name who is just looking to add another brand to their Instagram channel. It’s fundamental that we as Jack align with Influencers who share and can speak on behalf of our brand values and tonality – which we saw great success with the Super Jack’d Monday talent who did just this.