Momentum partners with Blue Barracuda for digital campaign

Momentum secured funding for the campaign from the UK Film Council’s Digital Innovation Award.

The digital marketing campaign will promote the film (out Aug 27) using a Facebook-connected game and a takeover on UK Film Council’s film search site FindAnyFilm.com to create awareness, buzz and engagement around the thriller. The deal represents the first film content partnership for FindAnyFilm and resulted in the first exclusive mobile trailer launch on Orange.co.uk.

The Facebook investigator game tests how much people know about their Facebook friends, with the results posted to their Facebook walls and the chance to win several quick-win prizes including a meal with Larsson’s biographer, private screenings of the film, and a trip to Sweden. The campaign will be supported by viral marketing targeted at gamers and social networkers, a specially created iPhone app and a traditional marketing blast.

Susie Bayes, Marketing Manager at Momentum Pictures said, “We asked Blue Barracuda to create a game which could engage, maintain and increase the online fans of The Girl Who Played with Fire by providing an immersive film experience. The result is a fast and addictive game which can excite existing fans regularly whilst broadening the message by communicating with players’ Facebook friends. Blue Barracuda’s work will help build excitement virally whilst the partnership with FindAnyFilm further broadens our reach and provides an immediate link to ticket sales.  It’s the perfect evolution of our digital campaign for The Girl trilogy, for which Facebook activity is the absolute core.”

Pete Buckingham, the UK Film Council’s Head of Distribution and Exhibition, said: “The UK Film Council’s Digital Innovation in Distribution strand was developed to encourage new ways of thinking, to help distributors find unique ways to grab the attention of film lovers, and the plans for ‘The Girl Who Played With Fire’ are a great example of how this is being achieved. It’s clear from the many innovative projects we’ve awarded Lottery funding to, that rights holders are keen to find new ways of connecting with filmgoers using the internet, tapping into the appetite for cinema in the UK and helping audiences discover films they otherwise might not have seen.” 

Directed by Daniel Alfredson, The Girl Who Played with Fire stars Noomi Rapace as computer hacker Lisbeth Salander and Michael Nykvist. The UK is one of the last international territories to release the film, which has already grossed $52.6m overseas. The first film in the franchise, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, took $2.3M at the UK box office and is out on DVD and Blu-ray this week.