Brief:
- Universal Pictures and Earplay developed an interactive audio adventure for Alexa-enabled devices surrounding the latest movie in the "Jurassic World" franchise, the companies announced in a press release.
- Players can use their voice to participate in a choose-your-own-adventure story that runs parallel to the events of the movie "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom," which premiered on June 22. The experience takes them to the film's fictional setting of Isla Nublar, where players are tasked with investigating dinosaurs and the island's volcano to gather information for a fake podcast.
- The six-chapter experience begins when players say, "Alexa, visit Jurassic World." People can access the first chapter for free, with the option to purchase the additional five for $3.99 for a limited time. Starting June 29, the premium content will be available for $4.99.
Insight:
Universal and Earplay's audio game for Alexa is part of a growing trend to develop voice-enabled entertainment for Amazon's digital assistant. Last week, HBO geared up for the season two finale of sci-fi drama "Westworld" with its first voice skill for Alexa. "Westworld: The Maze" leads players through a similar choose-your-own-adventure game with more than 60 storylines and 400 game choices based on trivia of the show's universe.
Universal has significantly ramped up the promotional efforts for the film, with an augmented reality (AR) mobile game and tie-ins with companies like Walmart, Amazon and AMC Theatres. Earlier in June, a Jurassic-themed virtual reality (VR) game launched at Dave & Buster's entertainment venues nationwide. The heavy marketing push behind "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom" illustrates how Hollywood is incorporating more interactive experiences to promote film releases, especially through emerging channels like mobile, voice, AR and VR. At the same time, studios like Universal likely feel the need to be more innovative in their marketing as they struggle to attract moviegoers to the box office and away from home video streaming platforms like Netflix.
Meanwhile, Kellogg is among the marketers getting in on the popularity of "Jurassic World" with limited-edition boxes of Kellogg's Frosted Flakes and Keebler Fudge Stripes that have exclusive, behind-the-scenes videos about the making of the movie. Kellogg produced only 200 of the collectible boxes, which cost $24.99 each on Amazon and have a 7-inch screen with 1024-by-600 resolution to show the video clips. Fans who couldn't get their hands on a collectible box can still buy specially marked packages of Frosted Flakes or Keebler Fudge Stripes that have a Shazam code that can be scanned with a smartphone to unlock interactive games and other content tied to the movie.
