AOL's Bebo Partners With Paramount For Movie Promo

AOL's Bebo Partners With Paramount For Movie Promo
by Gavin O'Malley, Monday, Jul 28, 2008 7:00 AM ET
Bebo, the AOL-owned social network, and Paramount Pictures have partnered to promote Paramount's new teen movie, "Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging."


The movie--based on Louise Rennison's bestselling novels for young adults about a precocious 14-year-old heroine named Georgia Nicolson--will be featured in Bebo's popular interactive Web drama, "Sofia's Diary." The collaboration was brokered by ad agency MeC Interaction.

The integration attempted to go beyond traditional product placement by incorporating Georgia into the plotline of "Sofia's Diary" through her own personal Bebo profile.

"We recognize that social networking is an important new form of self-expression," said Heath Tyldesley, director of interactive marketing at Paramount Pictures. "Sofia and Georgia presented us with a very natural partnership as the characters have a lot in common."

In the episode, Sofia is briefed by her editor at Wicked about a new online phenomenon, Georgia, whose daily video blogs on Bebo have proven to be hugely popular. Sofia is then assigned to interview Georgia to find out why an entire generation of teens has become obsessed with learning the minutiae of her world.

The profile was created in advance of the integration to allow Bebo's community to familiarize themselves with Georgia and the movie.

So far, the profile has attracted 8,990 friends and over 120,000 profile views, and delivered over 1 million video views overall for the blogs.

"Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging" is expected to make its U.S. debut in October.