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GOOGLE AND SONY - BUZZ MARKETING ‘THE DA VINCI CODE’
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Google and Sony Pictures have teamed up to generate buzz on the motion picture version of the bestselling novel ‘The Da Vinci Code.’ The book achieved phenomenal success due to its controversial nature and word-of-mouth publicity.
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May 19, 2006, is the date for one of the most awaited Hollywood movie releases of 2006, “The Da Vinci Code”. This movie, based on Dan Brown’s (Brown) blockbuster novel, “The Da Vinci Code,” has big stars like Tom Hanks (as the Harvard symbologist Professor Robert Langdon) and Audrey Tautou (as Sophie).
In a buildup to the movie release, Sony Pictures and Google Inc. (Google) teamed up to launch an online game (http://flash.sonypictures.com/movies/davincicodequest/), starting from April 17, 2006, filled with puzzles and quests based on the movie’s theme. Ads related to this online game were placed on the personalized home pages of Google’s users.
Some of the prizes that players could win were a Sony Playstation console (with the Da Vinci Code video game included), a Sony Bravia V Series LCD TV, a Sony Vaio Notebook, free tickets to Paris, ‘Da Vinci Code’ Special Edition Sony Ericsson mobile phones, and many other prizes. |
Marketers cited this online promo by Google and Sony Pictures as another case of buzz marketing or viral marketing that attempted to cash in on the enormous popularity of the novel and generate excitement about the upcoming motion picture release.
‘The Da Vinci Code,’ is a fictional thriller based on a series of clues which would unravel a hidden history of Jesus Christ and Christianity. The main premise of the novel is that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and had a bloodline that has survived till date. The novel generated enormous interest among readers because it contradicted the general belief and faith of Christianity. The novel captured peoples’ interest and imagination by taking them on a quest to unravel secret clues left at a murder scene, analyzing clues in the paintings of Leonardo Da Vinci, a journey through medieval history with the Knights Templar, secret organizations like the Priory of Sion, the Opus Dei, and a quest for the Holy Grail. It also vividly described various symbols that were deeply ingrained in Christian and Masonic culture.
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