As you may have noticed the last season of Game of Thrones is well underway, and the marketing support has been overwhelming – just check our ‘brief’ summary of the best campaigns in our excessive article here. Well, there’s still one haunting advert that we have missed. Because:

“When you play the Game of Thrones, you win, or you die.” Cersei Lannister

And it’s the case of the latter when we finally uncover the world-first experience for fans cleverly titled ‘Grave of Thrones’. DDB Sydney and the exclusive Australian broadcaster Foxtel decided to commemorate the highly anticipated eighth season of Game of Thrones in their own quirky way and have built a 2000 square metre graveyard that honours all the bloodshed and more than a hundred thousand individual deaths that span across the past seven seasons.

The ‘Grave of Thrones’ burial ground features an extraordinary collection of more than thirty gravestones that pay respect to the most beloved characters who appeared on the show throughout the years. However brief and unanticipated their deaths may have been. The experience includes two grand family mausoleums housing the deceased members of House Stark and House Baratheon and the headstones of some of the show’s most infamous characters, including Joffrey Lannister, Ramsay Bolton, Khal Drogo, Tywin Lannister, Littlefinger and Olenna Tyrell.

Every single grave has been produced with staggering details, with special references to the lives and deaths of the characters featured. The spectacular graveyard includes possibly the most tragic headstone—Hodor’s— as it pays respect to one of the show’s most well-known characters and depicts his tragic death at the exit of a horrifying cave. We won’t spoil anymore, we promise!

This eerie final resting place was created by a huge and passionate team of Australia’s top sculptors, designers, painters, and builders, who worked hundreds of hours to build graves richly layered in GoT stories and more or less obvious references.

The GoT burial ground, which was unveiled by Foxtel, the home of GoT in Australia, was situated inside Centennial Park in Sydney from April 12-14 and stretched over 2,000 square metres. Apart from DDB Sydney, the creepy place was built in a collaborative effort from Revolver/ Will O’Rourke and The Glue Society.

From research to design to actually creating the burial site, it took over ten weeks working around the clock for the huge and passionate team, with more than 30 in construction alone, plus some a set of sculptors, designers, and painters. Each grave, tombstone, or sculpture was hand sculpted from industrial-grade polystyrene, coated with a sandstone finish and painstakingly detailed with design elements like moss, rust, dirt to bring the spirit of Westeros to life.

DDB Australia Chief Creative Officer, Ben Welsh, explained that: “The detail of the build is staggering, and we’re acutely aware of the pressure on us to execute with meticulous detail. When you’re dealing with a show like this, with such an obsessive fanbase, you’ve really got to pull out all the stops.”

Those brave enough to make their way to the ‘Grave of Thrones’ will be able to download a map at graveofthrones.com (or you can just check it below!), where they can also find an audio tour of the cemetery, which illustrates the meticulous detail featured on each grave. We—who couldn’t come to Sydney—can only hope that after the popular show finishes there will hopefully be a similar permanent exhibit that pays tribute to all the deceased characters. However, this may prove to be an impossible task to do after the final battles of season 8! The winter is here…

Credits:

Creative: DDB Sydney
Chief Creative Officer: Ben Welsh
Executive Creative Director: Tara Ford
Creative Director: David Jackson
Senior Creative: Tim Woolford
Senior Creative: Tommy Cehak
Designer: Ramon Rodriguez
Head of Integrated Production: Sevda Cemo
Producer: Sam Harris
Planning Director: Joseph Smeaton
Managing Partner: Penny Dixon
Senior Business Director: Kirsty Mould
Senior Business Manager: Lisa Zimpel
Project Director: Liv Pultar
Content Editor: Richard Maxton
Sound Engineer: Danny Grifoni

PR: Mango Communications
Managing Director: Tabitha Fairbairn
Head of Consumer: Ben Handberg
Event Producer: Jim McGorty

Production Company: Revolver/ Will O’Rourke
Artists/Project Direction: The Glue Society
MD / Executive Producer: Michael Ritchie
Executive Producer: Pip Smart
Executive Producer: Jasmin Helliar
Producer: Isabella Vitelli
Production Designer: Enzo Iacono
Construction Manager: Greg Hajdu
Construction: Gregsets
Photography: PhotoPlay
Photographer: Romello Pereira
Producer: Libby Hams

Client: Foxtel
Executive Director of Television: Brian Walsh
Director, Content Marketing: Jo McAlister
Director, Publicity & Talent: Jamie Campbell
Chief Sale & Marketing Officer: Kieren Cooney