Starbucks stars briefly in GOT

While brands pay huge sums of money for product placement, Starbucks went back in time without paying a dime

According to a report in Wall Street Journal, a cup from the production craft team was caught for a fleeting moment in the frame.

And eagle-eyed fans immersed in the throes of the final season still managed to register their favorite cuppa of adrenaline in the middle of the battle

Like an extra who makes the headlines for wandering into the frame at exactly the wrong moment, Starbucks managed to wring social media juice and became an unwitting part of the conversation around coolers

This is the strange thing about viral concepts. No one knows exactly what will catch on and what will succeed. The most enthusiastic product placement executive could not have dreamed up of this situation.

The conversations around product placement, who uses the product and how it will be woven into the script are minuted, written into legalese and then, lost in the sands of time and memory

And suddenly, a fleeting unsuspecting second generates more interest and brand promotion than all the carefully detailed placements. Strange indeed are the ways in which our mind works