New-media agency Underwired* has developed a series of interactive
multi-player games which will support Puffin's launch of the paperback
edition of Eion Colfer's Artemis Fowl, a novel which has been touted as
the next Harry Potter.
Available in 31 countries, the hardback edition of the book has sold
150,000 copies in the UK to date, and a further 230,000 in the US.
The games urge users to recruit friends in a bid to create a community,
and will be distributed among amateur fan sites of the book and members
of Puffin's own emailed newsletter.
The campaign will also feature a microsite and screensaver, which will
launch on 8 February for the run up to the book's launch on 8 March.
Jason Holland, creative director at Underwired*, said that the book,
which has been compared to the film Die Hard "with fairies", will allow
the agency to leverage its new-media work on a project with underground
status.
"The book is aimed at eight to twelve-year-olds, but these games aim to
build on the book's definite crossover appeal," said Holland.
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