Digital creative agency Naked Penguin Boy were commissioned by Harper Collins Publishers to create an online Sudoku game to promote the book series by SuDoku Master, Wayne Gould.
The “Wayne Gould’s Sudoku Challenge” website was launched to give sudoku enthusiasts the chance to take their puzzle busting skills to the next level by taking on Wayne Gould in the sudoku challenge.
Wayne Gould is renowned for popularising Sudoku puzzles in the UK. He pioneered the global success and popularity of the Sudoku puzzle outside of Japan.
Users are able to play grids across two difficulty levels and determine a handicap based on the time taken to complete each puzzle. A high-score table displaying each user’s handicap allows users to compete against each other and in addition, send challenge requests to their friends.
Users can also add the Wayne Gould SuDoku Challenge to their MySpace and Facebook profiles, where their current handicap is displayed and is updated as and when the user continues the challenge. Once again, friends linked into the players profiles can be challenged and invited to take on Wayne’s SuDoku Challenge.
An offline version of the game is also available for download, which is updated each month as new puzzles are added to the site.
NPB Media devised a marketing strategy for the SuDoku campaign that targeted and promoted the launch of the website to established and eager Sudoku players across the web; in particular, time rich individuals.
Commenting on behalf of NPB Media, PR and Marketing Manager Carolyn Mackintosh stated “The community and sharing element was an important requirement of our client’s and I do believe that Naked Penguin Boy have managed to incorporate this superbly into the various aspects of the game. Added to this is the online promotion of the game amongst community orientated sites helping to enhance the overall outcome and results.”
Naked Penguin Boy and NPB Media have previously worked with Harper Collins and handled the online Marketing and PR for a number of their book releases (“The Devil Wears Prada”, Michael Crichton’s “Next”, and Cecelia Ahern’s “A Place Called Here”) and are pleased to have been asked to help make the sudoku phenomenon as successful online as it has been offline.