There have been dragon sightings across Australia – on the Southern Hemisphere’s largest billboard, scorched press ads, a 3D billboard in Melbourne, soaring projections, an Iron Throne tour, AR Dragon apps, and even the discovery of a giant dragon egg washed up on the Great Ocean Road beach.

It’s Binge’s largest project since the service launched in 2020 for the year’s TV biggest show, House of the Dragon, created by Thinkerbell (creative and earned), Mindshare (media), We Are Social (social), Wonder (dragon egg activation) and Habitat (dragon eye and creative OOH).

The three-month campaign, beginning in August and ending in October, runs across paid, owned, earned and social channels.

To honour the scale of the show, nothing was left un-dragon-a-fied. The campaign kicked off in August with placements across the Southern Hemisphere’s largest billboard, national TV, cinema, print, outdoor, ambient, radio, video, display, social & search.

The campaign also includes a massive 3D billboard on The Bourke, located on Bourke Street, Melbourne (an oOh! Media site), from which a giant dragon appears and roars at passersby. It was developed by The Mill and appeared on August 22 as the first episode of the show dropped on Binge.

Alison Hurbert-Burns, Binge executive director, stated, “It’s been three long years since the Game of Thrones finale went to air, and fans, like me, have been eagerly awaiting the prequel set 200 years prior. Now the wait is over with House of the Dragon now streaming on Binge with new episodes weekly.”

To accompany the above the line initiatives, the team created an earned stunt to fuel the fandom. Aussie animal expert and wildlife relocator, Matt Wright, was called in to inspect and help transport a giant dragon egg found washed up on Anglesea Beach, along the Great Ocean Road, confirming that dragons have, in-fact, landed on Australian soil.

With the help of a forklift and twelve tonne tilt tray truck, the dragon egg was transported to Melbourne where it was housed at Federation Square for fans to come and witness for themself. The discovery was played out as an episodic series across Instagram and TikTok. View the social campaign across Matt Wright’s Instagram.

Melbournians who visited the egg at Federation Square were also able to access the House of the Dragon DracARys app, the newly released House of the Dragon augmented reality app, where fans can hatch their very own personalised virtual dragon egg.

Surrounding the giant egg, fans were also able to see the eye of a dragon keeping a vigilant watch over the egg youngling, along with silhouettes of a flight of dragons over buildings across the city and the sounds of Dragon growlings nearby.

The Australian premiere of House of The Dragon, hosted at Sydney’s Entertainment Quarter on Tuesday (16 August) was attended by over 500 people including celebrities, sportspeople, influencers, cosplayers and some of Australia’s biggest fans. A new Iron Throne was revealed and has now begun touring Australia for fans to get their very own photo sitting on top of the throne.

Adam Ferrier, chief thinker, Thinkerbell, commentedm “It’s only fitting that the world’s biggest show receives the biggest launch. From installations to flaming press ads, projections to 3D billboards, and a giant dragon egg, nowhere has been safe from the wrath of the fire breathing stars of the show. We’ve loved working with Mindshare, We Are Social, Wonder and the rest of the agency village, to give House of the Dragon the scale and impact it deserves.”

[Cover image: Aaron Walker photography]

Credits:

Client: BINGE

Executive Director: Alison Hurbert-Burns
Director of Marketing: Annabelle Greene
Director of Communications: Asha Burns
Executive Director Foxtel Group Media: John Matthews
Head of Media: Tim Micallef
Senior Marketing Manager: Kara McEwan
Senior PR Manager: Chelsea Metaxas
Publicist: Charlotte Leddie
Design Lead: Susanna Ichwandi
AV Lead: Reilly Baker
Motion Graphic Lead: Santiago Florez Fernandez

Digital Media: Streamotion
Creative & Earned: Thinkerbell
Media Strategy & Buying: Mindshare
Social: We Are Social
Dragon egg production: Wonder
Dragon eye production & creative OOH – Habitat
3D Billboard: The Mill
Earned Photography: Aaron Walker
Earned Videography: Tim Smith