Winter is coming’ yes Game of Thrones fans experienced winter this summer season with the launch of the much awaited Game of Thrones season 8. The GoT mania took Indian fans by storm in the days leading to its final season opener, as pointed out by internal data at Instagram, India.
India emerged as the fourth country globally where users were most excited about the fantasy series and the only Asian country to feature in the top five. According to reports, the highest volume of GoT-related content on Instagram came from Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore, followed by Hyderabad and Chennai. The social media was also flooded with memes and trolls related to GoT and its characters.
The good news for the licensing industry came in with new opportunities in cashing on the GoT merchandises. As the season 8 kicked in the licensing and merchandising saw products like tees, shoes, board games, whiskey (it’s called White Walker whiskey), bobbleheads, posters, mugs, badges, phone covers and memorable memes and much more entering the markets which helped fans express their excitement.
Here are some great merchandising products inspired by Game of Thrones:
Adidas Ultraboost sneakers
Adidas Running created six limited-edition Ultraboost sneakers for the HBO show for $180 a pair. The shoes are modeled after the Targaryen dragons, the White Walkers and the Night’s Watch, as well as House Targaryen, House Stark and House Lannister. They feature sigils on the tongue, mottos on the heel, “Game of Thrones” insoles and color themes drawn from the family or creature they’re modeled after. 
Monopoly Game of Thrones Edition
Monopoly: Game of Thrones incorporates features from the show such as gold dragons and silver stags for currency along with iconic properties and graphics within the game board. It also contains game tokens inspired by the house sigils and you can choose whom to represent as you begin playing the game and going around the seven kingdoms via this game board. 
Graphic tees from John Varvatos
The luxury menswear brand launched an exclusive, 11-piece menswear capsule collection that includes a $2,698 Winterfall leather jacket (a la the Starks up north) that includes an illustration of the Iron Throne printed on the interior, as well as $98 T-shirts featuring the family houses or the Iron Throne itself.
Urban Decay cosmetics
Urban Decay launched limited edition line of eye shadow palettes, eyeliners, lip colors and brushes fit for a queen. The shades are inspired by the women of Westeros and select locations in the Seven Kingdoms, such as the Mother of Dragons Highlight Palette in golden nude, frosted pink and metallic bronzer. Her co-star Nathalie Emmanuel (Missandei) modeled the eye shadow, which features 20 shades representing the show’s power players, including smoky mattes and neutral shimmers for House Stark, or cool, icy shimmers for the White Walkers.
White Walker by Johnnie Walker
White Walker by Johnnie Walker, which is meant to be served cold, has a hidden “Winter is Here” message etched in “thermochromic ink” that appears on the bottle when frozen. It packs notes of caramelized sugar, vanilla and fresh red berries.
Oreo
One of the notable campaigns this season is the series’ new partnership with Oreo, that’s released limited-edition cookies with the house sigil of the Targaryens, Starks, Lannisters, and the White Walkers. The video played in the same format as the opening sequence of the show with the Oreos forming castles and other factors which would remind one of the show.
Mountain Dew
The cans are not available in the market and cannot be purchased and can only be won through a contest and one must hurry as only 800 of these are available. Dubbed as “A Can Has No Name”, the cans has a blank canvas of metal which turns into an interesting list when it’s cold. As part of the quest #ForTheThrone, the GOT-themed soda goes with the ‘Winter is Coming’ theme and reveals the names of the characters—alive and dead from the show—when it gets chilled.
MAC Cosmetics
MAC Cosmetics launched the ‘every shade of you’ collection for the GoT fans calling it ‘Game of Tones’. The GoT collection features battle proof, No budge studio fix 24 hour smooth wear concealer range.
Apart from creating special merchandise products other brands also led and entire month long campaign to attract the GoT fans. Social media pages of brands like 7up, hotstar, Nature’s Basket, Basket Robbins, Mi Phones and others saw creative posts highlighting the series with their products.
