Seth Godin; instigator, entrepreneur and ruckus-maker returned to London on the 17th January to present his new book, The Icarus Deception, including a reading and a Q&A, at the Mermaid Theatre. The iconic publishing brand Penguin who published Seth’s book engaged us to devise an original and remarkable way to allow audience members on the night to gift a copy of the book and share ideas in social media. So we worked with Penguin to create a web-based mobile application to do just that.

1. Web Application for Seth
Godin & Penguin Books

2. Seth Godin; instigator, entrepreneur and
ruckus-maker returned to London 17th Jan
2013 to present his new book, The Icarus
Deception at the Mermaid Theatre, London.

3. Our
brief?

4. Penguin Books asked us to devise an original
and remarkable way to allow audience
members on the night to gift a copy of the
book and share ideas in social media.

5. So we worked with Penguin to create a
web-based mobile application to do just
that.

6. We focused on running the app
via Twitter as its an ideal
platform for event-based sharing

7. The premise was simple – each member of
the audience could gift a copy of the book
to two people they find inspiring on
Twitter, and send a personal message
directly to them.

8. How it
worked...

9. Audience members were given a
unique code and url to access the app
on their mobile or tablet.

10. The app works
with Twitter’s API,
so users were
asked to login via
Twitter to send
their gift.

11. Users were asked
to select
someone they’re
following.

12. Then a
personalised photo
tweet is created
using the
recipient’s
username and The
Icarus Deception
cover…

13. The photo
tweet and
copy are sent
to the
recipient on
Twitter…

14. Et voila!

15. A photo
tweet is sent
to the lucky
recipient…

16. To claim their
free book, users
are sent to a
redemption
page where
they verify their
Twitter
account…

17. And input
their details
for postage…

18. And finally,
they can send
a tweet back
as a thank-you
for the free
book…

19. Results?

20. Over 40%

21. ...of event attendees
used the app

22. Over 700,000

23. Over
...reached on Twitter
700,000

24. Seth remarked

25. the app was
‘brave &
fascinating’

26. Penguin were also happy...
“Harkable were brilliantly collaborative throughout
the whole process and clearly understood our brief
at inception - from developing an original creative
idea through to elegant design and execution.
The app earned a fantastic response rate from the
audience, with many positive comments about the
concept and user experience.”