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GLOBAL – After almost a year in the making, Penguin Books is set to unveil The Echo Project, a page-for-page digital companion to Khaled Hosseini’s best selling novel And the Mountains Echoed. This ambitious creative undertaking is a digital exploration of each of the 402 pages of the novel. The project will be unveiled in its near entirety and promoted within the paperback set for sale in June of this year.
The Echo Project was conceived and created by Toronto-based ad agency DARE and Penguin Canada, and has actively involved contributions from Khaled Hosseini himself, magazine editors, TV & Radio personalities, producers, authors, painters and illustrators.
Each contributor chose a page that inspired them and offered ideas about what their page should be or what they saw in their minds, where others told the creative team at DARE how they felt about what they read, leaving it open for the agency to develop on their behalf. In a few extraordinary cases, a contributor provided a finished, interactive page.
The Echo Project from Dare Toronto on Vimeo.
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“We hoped it would evolve and take on a life of its own. And it has,” says Paul Little, DARE’s executive creative director. “The concept was a framework to allow any content that helped embellish, explain or express. And because of the range of content, it needed it to be flexible enough to allow for spontaneity and fan contribution.”
The Echo Project features a unique assortment of interactive puzzles, motion graphics, videos, illustrations, audio and video that allows the reader to explore themes that are complimentary to the story, like references to history and culture.
For example, in one chapter Khaled references a specific fort in Kabul that played a role in the war with the British. The team at DARE tracked down historical photos from that time and decided to give the user real facts about what took place in that location. There are also items referenced that are intrinsic to Afghani culture, such as wedding traditions and market bazaars that the team felt compelled to explore.
“Many mainstream media outlets are using technology brilliantly for editorial, bringing together music, video, maps, interviews, etc to help explain the story in a way never before possible. A similar thinking was behind “the EchoProject” A DVD extras of sorts,” explains Little. “The difference for publishing is, and what we were concerned with, was to not ruin mental pictures or to take away from what’s great about reading. This is a companion to the reading experience.”
Penguin and DARE believe that the Echo Project is a sign of how book publishers will evolve their launch strategies to offer different reading experiences for avid and casual book readers. In this instance, avid Khaled fans were invited directly into the experience and given the opportunity to interpret the writing and participate in a project endorsed by the author. The completed project, launching with the paperback, offers casual readers a different type of book reading experience.
“In essence, we’ve created a value exchange, says André Louis, Director of Planning at DARE.” “Avid book readers got to co-create and live a more immersive book experience; casual readers get the ‘DVD-extras’ that go along with the paperback. We’re leveraging avid Hosseini fans’ word of mouth to influence those who buy a few books a year in an attempt to sell more to casual readers.”
DARE and Penguin have a history of experimenting within this space, making this DARE’s second collaboration internationally. In 2011, DARE London created the MyFry app which allowed users to read British writer and actor Stephen Fry’s second autobiography in a non-linear, theme-based fashion via mobile. It went to the top of Apple’s Best Selling Charts in the UK and reached the all-time top paid 30 apps list with 7.99-euro price tag.
The paperback version of And the Mountains Echoed will be available for purchase at major book retailers and online in May, and the Echo Project can be accessed at www.echoproject.ca.
