Tomy Eternity II
| Client: | Tomy |
|---|---|
| Project: | Eternity II |
| Skill base: | ASP.net, Flash, international content management system, design, search engine marketing, viral marketing |
| URL: | Tomy Eternity II |
Profile:
Eternity II is the follow up to Eternity I which captured the imagination of thousands of people in the UK eight years ago when a cheque for £1 million was handed over to a student who successfully solved the puzzle 18 months after launch.
Eternity II is a 256 piece puzzle which is solved by correctly aligning the coloured patterns on all squares. Uniquely, Eternity II has literally thousands of solutions. All solutions will be locked securely in a vault and opened in date order on 31st December 2008. The first correct solution opened will win US $2 Million.
Eternity II was launched at Hamleys on Regent Street on Friday 27th July 2007 by its inventor Viscount Christopher Monckton and Lucy Pinder who was wearing a dollar bill dress designed for the launch. Enthusiasts queued outside to get a chance of being amongst the first to try the game which has been widely tipped to be one of the most popular games this Christmas.
The Challenge:
- Build interest before the launch through the site and links from current Tomy sites
- Deliver a robust multi-language dynamic site that could cope with expected high peaks in traffic
- Enable global distributors to manage the content of the site across all languages, both in the build up to the launch and managing post the launch
- Provide links to purchase the game via Tomy’s existing e-commerce platform, www.tomy.co.uk
What we did:
- Built the main site in ASP.net to allow detailed technical development and enhanced functionality.
- Generated interest in the game through viral email campaigns using an online 16 piece teaser Flash version of the 256 piece puzzle developed by Big Picture Interactive, cascaded by ‘Challenge a Friend’ to create a buzz around the game and reach wider audiences.
- Linked two clue puzzle games which can be submitted online to receive reveal pieces to help solve the main puzzle.
International Content Management System
- Used our Amber Content Management System to offer a stable platform for the many different language versions of the website, including Russian, Hebrew and multiple users, which provided specific technical challenges.
- Created a microsite to promote the pre-release of Eternity II featuring a countdown linked to users' PCs running down the days, hours, minutes and seconds until launch across all countries. Linking to users' PCs ensured we hit the countdown accurately in different timezones for all the global sites.
- Supported the launch by online marketing
- Using search engine optimisation (SEO) and pay per click (PPC) to bring the site up in search engine rankings and let visitors find it easily.
Highlights
- Incorporating a range of languages into our Amber Content Management System to offer world-wide information.
- A site for Tomy that differs dramatically from our other current offerings for the company: tomy.co.uk, tomy.fr and tomy.de
- Eternity II being named as a Top Ten Toy for Christmas by Woolworths before it was even released.
