After EONs great success in Germany: interactive crime story now exported to other countries
With “Lost in Simris”, the energy company E.ON has launched the world’s first interactive Swedish crime story on Facebook as a chatbot. E.ON takes users to the Swedish village of Simris to solve a case together. They are looking for a lost lottery winner and along the way, they get to know the inhabitants of Simris and learn about the local off-grid energy system from E.ON.
What is really unique: it is a “choose your own adventure” story. In central parts of the plot, viewers decide not only about the course of action, but also how the thriller will end. They can choose, for example, which clue they want to follow next. Is the blacksmith Knallen being double crossed? What does the feisty Karin have to hide? Or is it worth a visit to the local cemetery?
The inhabitants of Simris play themselves in short video clips. The viewers see them beside pictures and text modules in the messenger window of facebook. What will be shown next depends on the user’s choices. A chatbot responds individually to viewers input and guides them through their own personal thriller.
“With classical communication methods, we are reaching fewer and fewer people. That is why we are developing new formats to appeal to people who otherwise would not be interested in our topics. The world’s first interactive Swedish crime story on facebook messenger offers viewers entertainment, along with surprises, excitement and, incidentally, interesting information about energy solutions of the future,” says Carsten Thomsen-Bendixen, Head of Stakeholder Communications and Corporate Spokesman.
The agency supporting the project is achtung! GmbH from Hamburg. The chatbot is developed by helloguide GmbH in cooperation with flow:fwd GmbH and Webedia GmbH.