Looking at how
The Hunger Games team leveraged iMedia so well -- what was in their playbook -- is one thing, but the other side of the equation is understanding why it worked. Constructing an effective playbook worthy of HoFMVP honors comes from understanding why the different tools work, what you need to do with the tools beyond posting and updates.
A huge part of why it all worked is that their playbook drew people into the story. Between the websites, ‘tour’ photos, the Tumblr blog, the Twitter feeds and Facebook pages – it created the sense of being in the world of Panem. Visiting the pages and interacting on the sites deepened the connection and identification with the material/product/story. The aforementioned existing fan community – the readers of the books – already had the world of Panem in their mind’s eye, in their imagination. The iMedia playbook used by
The Hunger Games team took that imaginary vision of Panem and brought it to life, made it real and tangible. All this reinforced the fantasy, the connection to the world of Panem and the world of
The Hunger Games.
The Hunger Games' iMedia playbook was not just about collecting likes or page views.
Content was built to engage the emotions, to make the characters real, to take them from the imagination of the readers to the screen. The characters they read about and rooted for (or against), the characters that they pictured as they read were now in front of them. This another key pillar as to why
The Hunger Games' playbook worked. They got that it’s not just about impressions, but its how you get people to respond and act on what is shared. If you can go beyond the superficial to making a deep connection, that is a HoFMVP-caliber achievement.
A good old-fashioned marketing technique was drafted into
The Hunger Games' playbook -- leave them wanting more. Through all the social media, the iMedia, the content sharing, the behind-the-scenes peeks, the blogs, the trailers and previews, one thing was conspicuously absent -- the Games themselves. Nothing was ever shown of the actual Games from the story at all.
By not telling the whole story, they left an air of mystery around the film, leaving the biggest question - what the Games would look like - unanswered. This appealed to both readers of the book (how will the Games be portrayed in the film) and the non-readers (what are the Games? How do they look? (no basis from the book from which to imagine)).
Bottom line, The Hunger Games team invested in social from the start. From the very beginning, it wasn’t just about pages, widgets, apps and activities. They got what social is – the conversation and the interaction – and they actively pursued that end. The campaign was structured to encourage the interaction. It wasn’t out to collect fans and page views, getting the total numbers up -- it was to build fans of the books/series/story into evangelists, louder champions for your message, your brand.