When Stephen King was about to launch his biggest novel since The Stand, Hodder & Stoughton turned to Unity to help make an impact. With no access to the author himself, we needed to appeal to a core group of fans, open to buying the hardback. Research showed these people were particularly active online investing considerable time in their interest areas; technology, media and all things fresh and new.

We decided to tease the audience via a game of literary hide and seek, using the contents of the book itself as both the media and the prize.

Core influencers and media were invited to hide disconnected pieces of the book online or in the real world, revealing clues to their whereabouts through our branded social media channels and campaign website. A wider audience were invited to find the hidden pieces and return them to the website, where the most successful ‘finder’ would be rewarded with the chance to read the book before anyone else, in a luxury hotel room.

We created one last twist using the final words from the book hidden in the London skyline just ahead of launch day, and a zoomable giga-pan image hosted on the Guardian and Wired websites for fans to find the final sentence of the new book.

“It's great to cite yet another example of this once so analogue of media mixing it up with a savvy digital campaign that engages and rewards core fans and generates stacks of positive online buzz.”   Contagious Magazine