So it’s not really about bringing down King Joffrey. It’s about SKY TV’s launch of season 4 of Game of Thrones, on Sky’s premium entertainment channel, SoHo, on Sunday, April 6. It’s not spectacularly easy to get a lot of people agog about season 4 of anything, so DDB New Zealand had to do something really big – 7 metres big.

DDB and Finch built a 7 metre statue of King Joffrey in Aotea Square in Auckland. A rope was wrapped around its neck. The rope was attached to a winch. The idea for Game of Thrones fans is to make the statue topple. One centimetre at a time, with hashtags. Every tweet that uses the hashtag #bringdowntheking makes the statue lurch closer to falling over. Only one million hashtags will achieve his downfall.

“Game of Thrones is a worldwide phenomenon and King Joffrey is quite possibly the most hated fictional television character of all time. It’s exciting to give fans an opportunity they are dying for; to assist in the demise of the King of the Iron Throne,” explained SKY’s director of programming, Travis Dunbar. “

DDB executive creative director Shane Bradnick added, “It’s great to be working with clients that want to create ideas that bring the fictional, digital and real worlds together. Let’s bring the bastard down!”

The campaign is being played out on its website.

Creative credits:

Agency: DDB Group New Zealand 

Executive creative director: Shane Bradnick

Creative director: Chris Schofield

Digital creative director: Haydn Kerr

Art director: Adam Thompson

Copywriter: Rory McKechnie

Agency producer: Tania Jeram

Executive Producer: Judy Thompson

Production company: Finch

Executive producers: Rob Galluzzo & Michael Hilliard

TV producer: Camilla Dehnert

Camera operator: Sam Britten

Production designer: Bruce Everard

Prop maker: Phil Gregory

Construction manager: Grant Bailey

CNC machining: Styrotech Limited

3D character modeling : Michael Ulloa

Engineer: Nick Barnfield

Live streaming: Slip Stream