Macmillan uses Instagram tags to create ‘choose your own adventure’ game
Macmillan Children’s Books has adopted an innovative use of Instagram’s tagging feature to create a “choose your own adventure” game to promote the new release “Thirteen”.
In the game, Instagram users become the book’s “hero” and navigate around the app by clicking on the tags that appear in photos.
The tags take the user to a new profile – such as “you_keep_still” or “you_fight_back” – where the narrative continues and opens up more options for users to explore (see full-length picture below) for the chance to win a range of prizes.
The Instagram game was co-written by the book’s author Tom Hoyle and produced by creative agency Ralph.
Amy Lines, Macmillan Children’s Books marketing manager, says: “Engaging teens in conversations around new books is not always easy. We know they are looking to the world of social media to provide them with pleasure and entertainment. We hope that by using Instagram in this innovative way, we will spark those conversations about Thirteen amongst peers in a way that is visually stimulating, ramified and shareable.”
Instagram first introduced tags to the service in May last year, allowing brands more ways to engage with their users on the app beyond posting their own photos – by asking users to tag the brand when they are at a sponsored festival or when they are wearing one of their products, for example.
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