Is the Prometheus transmedia campaign using mobile effectively to engage me in the story?

I’m feeling like today’s a good day for a fan rant, so here we go…

OK, Ridley and friends, you set my expectations high with the TED 2023 video. Now what do you have for me?

This week, you announced a significant update to the Prometheus Facebook app which has a really cool animated picture of a holographic star map from the ship-steering aliens (as opposed to the facehuggers / people killers). Looks like each week you are going to reveal and new trailer and/or images from the film. Week 1 is pretty freakin’ awesome on the web! Check this out:

Just one problem…for me, at least. As a user/consumer of the digital content, I don’t have a lot of free time. I write almost every day, I work full-time as a management consultant, I’m taking an acting class and a master’s degree course in mobile marketing, I participate in several artistic/social communities, I spend so much time in front of computers that I need to do an array of things to keep my body and soul reasonably healthy, and my wife likes to spend a little time with me now and again. Stated otherwise, my urgent need is to be able to use those five minute gaps I find here and there in the course of a day to catch up on the latest news about Prometheus! Guys and gals, you need to make it simple for me to see your stuff…and for me, that means on my mobile device.

Let’s examine the mobile experience, using my iPhone 4 and iPad 2:

• Did the Prometheus movie website auto-detect my Apple mobile devices? No. There is a Mobile Site | Full Site toggle at the bottom of the home page. However, the Full Site renders well on both Apple devices, definitely don’t need to use the mobile site on the iPad. I would be curious to know if the site detects non HD smartphones and delivers the Mobile Site for those.
• Did you announce the Facebook app on the Prometheus mobile site? Yes, although the title of the post suggested a different topic.
• Did you provide me with an alert about the update (I wanted to know!)? No.
• Did the mobile page load in a reasonable time? Yes, they embedded four photos in very small thumbnails. When I scissored to zoom out, the pictures looked gorgeous on my iPhone!
• Did the post compel me to want to use the Facebook app? Yes, the leaked photos hooked me.
• Did the Prometheus Facebook app render correctly on my mobile devices? No from Safari; cut off the base image, animation did not display at all. No from the Facebook mobile app; generated error message: “Either this application has not configured its Mobile Web URL, or the URL could not be verified as owned by the application. Unable to redirect.”

The truth is, there is nothing you can do to blow this, I’m going to see the movie, probably more than once, no matter what you do or don’t deliver to my mobile device. And you probably know that. You are guaranteed to make a living off the indelible impact the original movie on my psyche 33 years ago. However, if I was making a buying decision based on the mobile experience to date…I’m out.

You’re going to charge me $16 for a 3D ticket and $10.50 for a 2D ticket to see the show. You’re going to make a fortune. I expect a better mobile experience. You set the bar high with TED 2023. AdAge and Forbes backed you. Outside of the TED 2023 video, which is not an inherently mobile experience, and the Facebook app, which doesn’t work on mobile, I am wondering to what extent you have considered mobile in your campaign. I haven’t seen much of anything compelling in the Twitter feeds or Facebook posts, just a lot of regurgitation of the same information that’s on your core web assets (see previous post for list). You are master storytellers! Is this the best you’ve got?

Granted, you did at least built mobile device detection into the Weyland Industries website. Unfortunately, it doesn’t give me anything except a mobile-optimized page with the TED video (which I’ve already seen multiple times…still love it!) and the chance to sign up for Weyland’s investor alerts (which I did already on the web). P.S. Thank you for acknowledging that you received my registration for those alerts! I’ve tried to sign up multiple times, on my mobile and on the web, at the movie site (why can’t I sign up once and access all sites?) and I’ve been unable to create an account and log in.

I do find it odd (but not surprising, given that I consult for large corporations and I know how these things can happen) that you don’t provide the same social media integration or identity creation options on each of your sites. On the movie site, I have to create a 20th Century Fox account. On Weyland Industries, it’s Facebook, Twitter, or a unique account on the site. On the Project Prometheus site, you throw Google + into the mix. Huh? I’m confused.

I haven’t forgotten your comments, Kelly, and I will respond to them…had to get this rant out! My next post on this topic I am going to examine, from a mobile perspective, the social media integration and account identity options for each of your assets / sites. I will attempt to figure out if you intentionally made this difficult for me for some as-yet unrevealed story telling purpose or if this is a case of silo-think.