Lionsgate takes an unprecedented social media route for ‘Hunger Games’
Lionsgate is taking the social media route for the home video release of its movie ‘The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1′. Partnering with Sizmek, the social media campaign lets users follow code-breaking breadcrumbs across Facebook, Twitter and partner sites via immersive rich media experiences to unlock access to a deleted scene from the blockbuster movie. Lionsgate utilises a media execution that taps into a new found, mass knowledge of technology.
“Sizmek’s open technology allows advertisers to aggregate conversations in real time across multiple social platforms and publishers to deliver a single social creative experience. In this first to market campaign, Sizmek helped Lionsgate drive fans along a journey that included Facebook to multiple publishers and Twitter where fans can participate in a collective experience. We aggregated hashtags across platforms in real time to effect a creative execution and ultimately unlock exclusive content,” said AJ Vernet, Vice President of Sizmek Social.
In the campaign, a movie fan is first shown a Sponsored Post on Facebook from The Capitol of Panem. Upon click, District 13 (the rebel district) actually breaks into the feed and instead serves a secret message in Binary Code. Once the user translates this code using a free code translator tool – they learn it’s a bulletin urging them to ‘Join the Rebellion’ and can head over to one or more of the 19 partner sites for further clues.
Partner sites include IGN, Break, Celebuzz, Teen and Just Jared JR. When users arrive at one of the partner sites, they follow the breadcrumbs left on the homepage to the actual source code of the site. Inside the code, they’ll find an image from The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1, which directs them to tweet with the hashtag #UnlockMockingjay.
Additional Sponsored Posts on Twitter contain a rich media unit that prompts users to continue tweeting the hashtag in order to reach a maximum threshold and release an exclusive first look at a deleted scene from the film, a full day before it arrived on Digital HD. This entire campaign, including secret messages and hidden codes, creates a user-generated rebellion which mimics the core themes from the film.
“Partnering with Sizmek enabled us to provide fans with an extremely innovative way to interact by unlocking an exclusive deleted scene from The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 home entertainment release across digital channels and screens,” said Anne Parducci, Executive Vice President of Marketing at Lionsgate.
Based on the best-selling third novel of Suzanne Collins’ award-winning trilogy and the highest-grossing domestic theatrical release of 2014, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 is available on Digital HD, Blu-ray Combo Pack, DVD, and On Demand, March 6th.
