Toronto-based publisher McClelland & Stewart launched an online contest to promo Helen Humphreys’ book The Frozen Thames this week. The strategy ties geocaching in with Facebook and Google MyMaps for ‘The Quest for the Ice Fox.’
Geocaching – which involves using GPS devices to locate hidden trinkets stashed in woods and streams all over the world – is an integral part of the contest’s engagement factor, and is used to draw players into the city of London (the setting for the stories in The Frozen Thames). Clues for the contest will be delivered via the Ice Fox Facebook group for use in solving the riddles in the Google MyMap journey.
The object of the game is to discover the location of the ice fox, and keep it safe from pursuers. The first user to enter the correct location of the fox gets the chance to win a $2,000 travel voucher. The first clue hits Facebook on October 15, with a total of eight to be released over that many weeks at 5 am ET on Mondays.
M&S COO, VP and associate publisher non-fiction Susan Renouf says, ‘We knew that if this unique book was going to catch the attention of the young web reader, we would need something more innovative and exciting than we considered or even imagined before – something as daring and original as the book itself.’
