Everyone who knows me knows that I'm a huge Game of Thrones fan. Not like I am about the Lord of the Rings books, but it's pretty close. Last year, my sisters ( who do not watch the show) still went out of their way to give me a special birthday.
Back a few years ago, around Season 2 or 3, I worked with a bunch of awesome people who loved watching the show as much as I did. We hatched an idea we thought would be cool if we could incorporate the locations in the fictional world of Westeros with our iconic brand. As luck would have it, I had the opportunity to be speaking at the same event as the VP of Marketing at HBO at the time. I pitched the idea and she off handedly agreed politely. I got back to the office with the good news. In partnership with our fabulous Merchandise team and vendors, we made our idea into a reality. The Hard Rock Westeros collection was brought to life.
We made a very limited run of each city drop in the Seven Kingdoms based on their sigil colors. We even included the Free City of Braavos. Thanks to the photographic creativity of our amazing photographer and Creative Director, we had an unbelievable photoshoot using priceless music memorabilia assets to pay hommage in our unique way. (This is a Stevie Nicks cape laying over my lap. Love her.)
I packaged up the shirts, our photoshoot pics and a note reminding her of our conversation and the request that the shirts find their way to the cast. Off they went to HBO. We remained hopeful we would hear some acknowledgment of our gift.
Nothing.
The weeks went by, then months, then years and NOTHING.
Rat bastards didn't even give us the curtesy of a Kiss My Ass or a Cease and Disist. Nothing.
To this day, We remain in the dark on whatever happened to the coolest shirts ever created.
Even though we were completely dissed by HBO, I still remain a fan of the show. Always one to be respectful of copyrights, I have created another nod to the show with our Bend the Knee t-shirt, mug and pillows. Every Queen deserves to have her people Bend the Knee in recognition of her rule. A not so subtle reminder in your subjects face isn't such a bad idea either. 👑👍
