The world’s most famous author George RR Martin was suffering from the world’s most famous case of writer’s block. After the conclusion of the popular TV show, fans were frantic to read his next installation in the Game of Thrones series. Problem was, between big city living, media obligations, red carpet interviews and constant pressure from fans, Martin was five years overdue, and refused to even give a deadline.

Between our inspirational landscapes and ‘get it done’ mentality, New Zealand is a hot house of creativity. So, as the national carrier, Air New Zealand created a campaign offering George a free work-cation to New Zealand, using our inspiring country at the bottom of the world to, quite literally, get away from life’s pressures and finish his book.

Using social listening tools, we identified a relevant, timely sentiment that would allow Air New Zealand to solve a problem for the global Game of Thrones audience, who were dissatisfied with the ending of the show, and were wanting George RR Martin to finish the book.

We created a tourism campaign, for one person. We offered George RR Martin a free flight to New Zealand so he could finish his next book in the series.

This started with a tweet to him, written Valyrian, the fictional Game of Thrones language. This was quickly decoded by fans.

We then posted a video inviting him to New Zealand and asked fans to share it with him.

We also made a website for George, just in case he wanted to read up on what there is to see and do in New Zealand.

Fans shared our campaign with George, and two days later, George himself shared the campaign with his millions of fans. He penned a glowing travel review of New Zealand on his blog, and even gave Air New Zealand permission to imprison him in their beautiful homeland if he didn’t have the next book finished by July 2020. The world finally got its release date, and Air New Zealand got the world’s attention.

Media impressions: 16m+

Earned media: $2.3m+

Return on investment: 6500%+

3M Total Global Reach on Social > KPI was 1.5M (58% paid/42% organic)

1.4% Engagement Rate > KPI was 1%

95% Strongly Positive + Neutral Sentiment > KPI was 90%