Puffin to push kids' novel with games and microsite

by Dan Williamson,, Revolution UK 23-Jan-02, 12:00

LONDON - Puffin Books, part of the Penguin Group, is to launch a five-figure online campaign for a new cult children's paperback book.

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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