Crime 360 Informer103 TV Show & Online game

AETN International,a division of A&E Television Networks, has developed a unique integrated campaign to promote the cutting-edge, true crime series, Crime 360 via a web-based investigative game (http://citvasia.com/informer103.html).  This week, the game launched in parts of South East Asia. Developed as a guerilla marketing tool, the Crime 360 online game is non-branded and features Informer103, a fictitious character who challenges the gamer to help solve a crime through the call to action, “R u game?”  A key element to the game play is alternate reality gaming (ARG), which incorporates everyday real world experiences, such as Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Informer103/151899522744), blogs, and a dedicated YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/user/informer103) into the investigation. The informer grabs the player’s attention through disruptive communication such as hi-jacking Crime 360 promotional materials, and through on-air and online viral spots. Spots are embedded with an “unauthorized use of logo” message, and print materials for the series are emblazoned with the game URL and the game tagline: Life Over. Game On.  Through social media outreach, online communities including crime enthusiasts, gamers and fans of true-crime television, are called to join in the game. Players receive emails from the Informer with clues, links to videos, and series tune-in information.  In order to solve the crime, gamers must watch episodes of Crime 360 for a password that unlocks a valuable clue. The Crime 360 online game was created to support the season two broadcast of the series outside the US.  In each market, the game will be localized through languaging, character names, and locations.  Crime 360 currently airs on A&E® inthe US, Canada and Latin America and on Crime & InvestigationNetwork™ in the UK and Ireland, South East Asia and Taiwan, Australia and New Zealand, Sub-Sahara Africa, Greece and Turkey.  The series will also air on Crime & Investigation Network HD in the UK and Ireland. Crime 360 takes viewers inside actual investigations as they unfold, using state-of-the-art 360-degree digital photography and incredible CGI (computer-generatedimagery) visualizations to bring the evidence, and the evolving theories about what happened, to life.  Each one-hour episode begins the moment detectives are called to the scene and follows the case until it is solved.  From the start, viewers are part of the investigation – experiencing the crime scene from every angle, and the evidence at the microscopic level. As the case develops, and the theories change, the graphics evolve, culminating in a full-blown visualization of what really happened.