Although Northern Ireland had been home to Game of Thrones for over ten years, fans didn’t consider it a tourist destination. In 2019, as the show drew to a close, Tourism Ireland ensured its legacy would be felt long after the final episode had aired by connecting it with NI’s own history and heritage.

The key objectives for the campaign were to:

1) Make NI’s role in creating GoT known to the world by using through the country’s craft heritage

2) Turn love for GoT into love for NI by depicting the scenes the fans would miss the most

3) Shift interest in GoT into interest for NI as a travel destination by ensuring the ideas lived and breathed both offline and online

With a budget of €260,000, TI created a series of installations throughout the heart of Belfast that are still here to this day.

We scoured the internet and took fans most searched, shared and talked-about Game of Thrones moments from the last decade, and immortalised them in 6 beautifully crafted, Northern Irish stained-glass window monuments. A modern data-driven twist on an age old artform befitting both the show, and Northern Ireland’s own rich heritage of stained-glass design and manufacture.

A new window was revealed each week to coincide with the release of a new episode of the shows final season. Together they formed a pilgrimage trail across the city of Belfast, beginning with its traditional stained-glass roots in City Hall and eventually leading visitors to the home of the shows production at the Titanic Studios.

Each window was also recreated digitally online, allowing users to interact with and explore from the comfort of their own homes.

Following conversations with Game of Thrones fans, TI realised that as the show came to a close there was nothing more that they wanted than to immortalise the show. TI needed to show them that even though Game of Thrones was no longer, it would long live on in Northern Ireland.

This gave birth to the campaign’s key message: Experience Northern Ireland to re-experience Game of Thrones.

Using data, we analysed the most talked about, shared and viewed moments from the series and immortalised them in beautifully crafted stained-glass windows. By using Belfast’s glass making heritage, TI leveraged Northern Ireland’s craft-making history that helped create the show.

Each window represents one of the main Houses or families from the show, chronicling the most talked about and shared moments featuring those characters.

Our illustrators recreated every iconic scene by hand, before 3D printing the final framework of each design. Bespoke hand-mixed resins were then used by our artist to bring each window to life in full colour.

A new window was revealed each week of the shows final season to coincide with the release of a new episode of the show. Together they formed a pilgrimage trail across the city of Belfast, beginning with its traditional stained-glass roots in City Hall and eventually leading visitors to the home of the shows production at the Titanic Studios.

Each window was also recreated digitally online, allowing users to interact with and explore from the comfort of their own homes.

The campaign was a success for Tourism Ireland, achieving talk-ability with 87 million impressions. Fans couldn’t help but engage, leading to 8 million video views. Additionally, we drove them to find out more, propelling 247k worth of visits to Ireland.com. But most of all, Northern Ireland will forever be known as Game of Thrones of Territory, with the windows still on display on the streets of Belfast as a permanent tourist attraction.