The Overview

In case you live under an anti-Harry Potter rock and didn’t know of the Pottermore announcement, let me sum up.

“Pottermore is an exciting new website from J.K. Rowling that can be enjoyed alongside the Harry Potter books. You can explore the stories like never before and discover exclusive new writing from the author. It is FREE to join and use, and is designed to be safe for people of all ages.”

Basically, J.K. Rowling is releasing her seven-part series in e-book format for the first time.  But instead of just an e-book, she is creating a visual world where the viewer can follow the story as it happens.  Consider it a mix between a video game, book, and movie-all in one.

The Marketing Genius

The way in which this announcement was made is extremely unique.  It started with a short comment on ten different Harry Potter fan sites.  Within each of these posts was a set of coordinates that the fan then took to Rowling’s website to plug into her special version of Google Maps.  To make a long story short, each coordinate equated to a letter that eventually spelled out POTTERMORE.

From there, it went to Twitter.  As fans discovered the word, they swarmed to follow @pottermore who had only released one tweet.  Viewers waited with bated breath to find out what Pottermore was until, low and behold, another tweet was sent that linked to Jo’s Youtube account!  The world watched for a week as a clock ticked down to the announcement of what Pottermore was.  This video was shown on the Pottermore website as well as on Youtube.

The Response

Immediately following the release of the video, the Pottermore website crashed for about four hours due to the sheer influx of people seeking more information.  As the hype started dying down, the website released a preview.  And then another.  And then another.  With little to no information regarding what Pottermore is going to look like, you have to keep the fans interested somehow.

However, it has proven easy to conclude that the fans are indeed becoming and staying interested.  Here is some quantitative Harry Potter trivia that allows for better understanding of the scope of the mania that has touched upon the world.

Stats about Interested Fans:

–          Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 shattered the record for the highest grossing midnight movie.  With a record breaking $43.5 million dollars made, it beat out The Twilight Saga: Eclipse which made $30 million from its’ midnight shows.

–          The same movie has made $126 million worldwide.  In two days.

–          @pottermore has tweeted 13 times in the last month and has 172,460 followers.

–          J.K. Rowling’s Youtube channel has been viewed 5,109,468 times in the last month.

–          If you want to get down to the nitty gritty, Harry Potter characters are five of the nine trending topics worldwide currently on Twitter.

–          Random Harry Potter fact: Michael Jackson approached Rowling to make a musical from the Potter series.

The Follow-Up

Pottermore opens to a select group of fans on July 31st and to the world in October.  I don’t know about you, but I will be up at midnight on July 31st, eagerly awaiting the next announcement.  Who knows what it’ll cover – but I’ll be there.

For a website that was released entirely by online means, I’d say Pottermore was a huge success.  For more information on how your company can use something like this to boost its sales and status, contact Atomic Design and Consulting today.