NEW YORK, March 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Today HarperCollins Children's Books announces the launch of its "Read It Before You See It" global digital campaign for C. S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia.  The massive web presence focuses attention on the seven books in the series as a lead in to the Walt Disney Pictures and Walden Media release of 'The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian' film on May 16, 2008.

HarperCollins and online agency Special Ops Media (www.specialopsmedia.com) are taking Narnia to where the readers live-online, working together to create a viral campaign that takes a 50-year-old classic brand to Web 2.0.

Extensive promotions on Facebook and MySpace, a custom Prince Caspian widget and "Enter to Win" consumer contests are among the Web 2.0 initiatives that will reach new and existing fans of Narnia in surprising interactive ways, presenting an enhanced look at the beloved world that is Narnia.

"Our comprehensive, highly-targeted "Read It Before You See It" online campaign allows us to leverage all our Narnia assets to create interactive, viral platforms. These will expand our audience by further engaging it and increasing its user-experience with the franchise, to grow readership in advance of the film," said Diane Naughton, Vice President of Marketing, HarperCollins Children's Books.

 The Narnia "Read It Before You See It" campaign includes:

 -- Extensive promotion on social community sites Facebook and MySpace;
    including profiles for Prince Caspian and Narnia.
 -- A custom widget for MySpace with streaming daily content: movie info,
    trivia quiz and a countdown clock.
 -- A special application for Facebook-the Narnia Trivia Challenge-
    utilizing new technology.  Fans can "join the battle" with Prince
    Caspian as one of their favorite Narnians, answer up to 100 questions,
    unlock unique content, and challenge a friend to beat their score.
 -- "Read It Before You See It" dedicated microsite,
    www.harpercollinschildrens.com/narnia features a sweepstakes, games,
    information about the books, author, illustrator and much more.
 -- "Read It Before You See It" "Enter to Win" consumer contest (March
    11th-April 11th)
    -- Grand Prize: 2 tickets to the NYC premier of Prince Caspian the
       movie.
    -- 1st Prize: A Narnia treasure chest filled with Narnia books, games,
       toys, plush, costumes.
    -- 2nd Prize: A complete library of Prince Caspian movie tie-in books.
    -- 3rd Prize: A Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian Wii video game.
 -- Online advertising on nick.com and nickjr.com (1,080,000 impressions).
 -- NeoPets.com interactive game: "Which character are you?" for kids on
    NeoPets.com with advertising and links to the microsite, trailer and
    special features.
 -- Multiple partnerships with major online portals beginning with Yahoo!
    Kids (4 million unique visitors each month) to feature e-cards from the
    Pevensie children, and KOL, the kids division of America Online, (1.2
    unique visitors each month) which will offer a read-a-long of a chapter
    a week with prizing.

In 2005, 'The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe' film was a huge success, earning more than $750 million worldwide, second only to 'Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith' as the top box office that year. Disney's own research showed that the Narnia books were clearly a major driver of ticket sales-with the release of the movie HarperCollins sold more than 17 million units in the U.S. alone.