Self-Destructing Book

Creative / Writer

For the launch of James Patterson’s “Private Vegas” we wanted to demonstrate that, after a 30-year career, he still was the master of thrill.

We created the Self-Destructing Book. A campaign designed to dramatically heighten the thrill of reading a book. We gave people 24 hours to read “Private Vegas” before it self-destructed. We changed the way people read a thriller one-second at a time.

The two versions of the Self-Destructing Book

Experiential

We promoted the outrageous $294,038 self-destructing physical version of the book with an equally outrageous online film.

Website

We released 1,000 free e-books at Selfdestructingbook.com, the hub of the campaign. There, users got codes to unlock the e-book and, to heighten the thrill, they could track other readers’ progress and steal time from their timers. 

iPad experience

The e-book included a 24-hour timer, frightening story related animations and an ominous "page burner" that destroyed every page as the user swiped to the next one.

TV

Finally, after all the digital books were destroyed, we launched a TV spot promoting the still available $294,038 version and the new, non-self-destructing hardcover version of the book.