A coffee cup that appeared in the latest episode of Game of Thrones has generated an estimated $2.3billion worth of free advertising for Starbucks, and it wasn’t even the company’s beverage.

The cup that showed up in the first airing of season eight’s episode four of GoT was actually a plain cup from the on-site food service referred to as craft services, CNBC reported. However, fans assuming it was a Starbucks drink lit up social media. 

Chief executive officer of marketing company Hollywood Branded Stacy Jones said that the approximate value of all the discussion amounted to $2.3billion in commercial value.

Critical mention, a PR subscriptions service, counted 10,627 mentions of Starbucks and ‘Game of Thrones’ across the internet and in television and radio broadcasts.

A coffee cup showing up in the latest episode of Game of Thrones has generated an estimated $2.3billion worth of free advertising for Starbucks, and it wasn’t even the company’s beverage. Daenerys Targaryen, played by Emilia Clarke, is pictured in the scene with the coffee cup in front of her on a table

In the latest In the episode titled ‘The Last of the Starks,’ a coffee cup is clearly visible on a table in front of Daenerys Targaryen, played by Emilia Clarke, just before the 17:40 mark. it was actually a plain cup from the on-site food service referred to as craft services, but fans assuming it was a Starbucks drink lit up social media

In the episode titled, ‘The Last of the Starks,’ a coffee cup is clearly visible on a table in front of Daenerys Targaryen, played by Emilia Clarke, just before the 17:40 mark. 

The conspicuously out-of-place cup, which can be seen for about two seconds, was spotted by ‘GoT’ fans shortly after the episode aired. 

As of Monday morning, it was on Twitter’s top 10 trending topics. Also trending on Twitter was the hashtag ‘Starkbucks,’ a nod to the unexpected blending of House Stark and the Seattle-based coffee chain.

Starbucks, the world’s biggest coffee chain, had its own take on the unexpected publicity in a series that is watched by more than 30 million people in the United States alone.

‘TBH we’re surprised she didn’t order a Dragon Drink,’ the company said on Twitter, referring to its summer menu addition of a bright pink fruit and coconut milk beverage that contains the tropical dragon fruit, also known as pitaya.

‘This is a once-in-a-lifetime collision of opportunity for Starbucks,’ Jones said.

‘But really, this is just the tip of the iceberg, because what isn’t being monitored or estimated is the word of mouth and social media on top of this.’

Social media mentions for Starbucks and ‘Game of Thrones,’ or some variation of a reference to the series, monitored by analytics company Talkwalker numbered in six-digit figures.

Within 48 hours of the show’s airing the topic had been mentioned 193,000 times on Twitter, in online forums, blogs and on news websites. 

Game Of Thrones fans joked Sansa Stark (played by Sophie Turner, at right) was the ‘coffee cup culprit’ as viewers shared an image of Turner holding a matching beverage on Wednesday, standing alongside Bella Ramsey, who played Lyanna Mormont

Fans joked on Wednesday that it was Sophie Turner, who plays Sansa Stark, who was responsible for the errant coffee cup making an appearance in the show.

Bella Ramsey, who played Lyanna Mormont, shared an image of herself standing beside Turner, who appeared to be holding a cup that matched the one spotted in front of Clarke in Sunday’s episode.

Dan Hill, CEO of Hill Impact, told CNBC that the actual value of the mishap is immeasurable. 

‘It’s impossible to put a real figure on how much free advertising Starbucks gets out of the situation, but it’s in a totally different category than product placement because it was accidental, which makes it more valuable,’ Hills said.

‘I know people assign a value to these things, “more than $1 million in public relations,” but I think it’s all hogwash — too hard to quantify. Plus this one will live on as a meme, so I guess you could say it’s a gift that will keep on giving.’

The eighth and final season of ‘Game of Thrones’ has broken records for HBO, with more than 38 million American watching the season premiere episode that was broadcast on April 14.

The Emmy-winning series, an adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ series of novels, comes to a conclusion on May 19.

In Sunday’s episode, the coffee cup was apparently later edited out for streaming versions, but as Hill said, even as the series draws to a close, the memes will live on the internet forever.

Chief executive officer of marketing company Hollywood Branded Stacy Jones said the approximate value of all the discussion amounted to $2.3 billion in commercial value. In Sunday’s episode, the coffee cup was apparently later edited out for streaming versions, but even as the series draws to a close, the memes will live on the internet forever.  The characters of Wildling Tormund Giantsbane (Kristofer Hivju), Jon Snow (Kitt Harrington) and Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) are shown in the scene with the coffee cup

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Starbucks got more than $2billion in free advertising from a coffee cup appearing in Game of Thrones

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