In this week's Hobnobbing, we examine Lionsgate's latest attention-grabbing campaign.
By Amy Wilkinson
Jennifer Lawrence and Liam Hemsworth in "Hunger Games"
Photo: Lions Gate
One-hundred days can seem like a pittance when, say, it's the first week of September and you've pleasantly (and too quickly) whiled away three months' worth of summer vacation. But 100 days can feel like an eternity when it's all that's standing between a fan and a highly anticipated film debut. Such is the case for the big-screen adaptation of "The Hunger Games," which hits theater March 23, 2012 — exactly 100 days from today.
To sate fans' appetites and capitalize on a milestone date, Lionsgate launched a viral campaign called #HungerGames100 Poster Puzzle Hunt. The online scavenger scramble recruited 100 different websites (including MTV) to host a piece of a puzzle and tweet a relevant link. Once solved, the puzzle would reveal the newest poster for the film starring Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth.
In keeping with the film's Twitter-heavy rollout, intrigued fans took to the social-networking site to chat about the project. @mayachelsie wrote, "This #HungerGames100 is making me too excited. Oh gosh. I think I'm gonna throw up... 100 DAYS TILL THE HUNGER GAMES!" Similarly, @KarimaHessen enthused, "#HungerGames100 This is going to be the longest 100 days of my liiiiiife!!"
Though many fans were excited by the film's impending debut and the campaign itself, the prospect of hunting down 100 individual pieces was daunting for many. @16princessful mused, "I am not gonna even try to find all 100 pieces cuz I don't even know where to start lol. #HungerGames100." @mollsabeth chimed in, "If I didn't have a job, I would absolutely be trying to solve the #HungerGames100 puzzle."
Whether you joined the hunt or waited for a more industrious (not to mention patient) fan to solve the puzzle, it's hard to deny Lionsgate caught the Internet's attention, with many high-profile sites participating (in addition to MTV, Entertainment Weekly, E! Online and People all played ball) and the campaign, at times, trending on Twitter. This isn't the first time Lionsgate has utilized the power of the interwebs. Back in October, MTV and a handful of other sites participated in a concerted rollout of the film's character posters (hello, Peeta!), and, of course, Twitter went into a tizzy for the film's first teaser and trailer debuts.
Though we can only speculate as to what viral treasures await in 2012, we want to know what you think of these types of campaigns. Quirky and cool? Or too much work? Sound off in the comments below and tweet me @amymwilk with your thoughts and suggestions for future columns!
Check out everything we've got on "The Hunger Games."
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Related PhotosSource: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1676091/hunger-games-100-day-countdown.jhtml
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