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NewswireTODAY - /newswire/ -
Macclesfield, Cheshire, United Kingdom, 2008/05/27 - Fame Film, Hollywood's 2nd largest production studio, has signed UK author Ian Newton to make the movie of his book based on the popularity of an online game which has been played over 23 million times and downloaded to 30,000+ websites.
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“Dustbingate”, a digital game by viral specialists Matmi, has resulted in a Hollywood movie deal for Ian Newton, author of the political comedy “Dustbingate: The Plot to Rubbish Prescott”. When one of Hollywood’s largest production companies, Fame Film, discovered that the online game had been played over 23 million times worldwide and downloaded to over 30,000 websites, it immediately signed a deal with author Ian Newton because the book is already branded and well known. Fame Film has produced some of Hollywood’s biggest movies including Terminator and Platoon.
“Dustbingate: The Plot to Rubbish Prescott” was dubbed “the Full Monty of politics” as it follows the real life fortunes of five Hull factory workers who decide to investigate John Prescott and the local Labour group in a bid to make some quick cash. Ian Newton, head dustbin stealer in 1998 and author of the book “Dustbingate – The Plot To Rubbish Prescott”, is amazed at the long-running popularity of the viral game, which has achieved cult status in political and media circles.e
“It’s safe to say that there’s no way Dustbingate would have gone to Hollywood without Matmi’s Dustbingate game,” says Newton. “It’s known all over the world; it winds John Prescott up something rotten and in 2005, Government workers were banned from playing it in works time. My agent couldn’t believe how many people had played it and we signed a deal largely because the Dustbingate game has already proved how saleable the story is.”
Jeff Coghlan, founder and MD of Matmi New Media who created the Dustbingate game, says it exemplifies viral marketing at its best - but it’s still taken him by surprise. “The Dustbingate game put Matmi on the map back in 2004 because it was so controversial and newsworthy. We were asked to develop the game to promote the Dustbingate brand because a viral game could take the name to a far bigger audience far more quickly. Here we are in Hollywood four years later, when we’d almost forgotten about Dustbingate completely! Games which have the appeal to go viral are phenomenal brand builders and so cost effective to do. Dustbingate is a text book example of viral marketing at work.”
The Dustbingate story in brief
It’s 1998 and five factory workers from Hull decide to investigate the antics of their local labour council and the then newly appointed Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott, in a bid to make some quick cash. All too soon, their activities started to cause rumblings in Hull and the Government’s corridors of power and the comedy of errors gets serious out of hand. The media descend on Hull chasing the factory workers, two of whom were arrested for conspiracy to steal the Deputy Prime Minister’s dustbin, hence the press headlines “Dustbingate”.
About the Dustbingate game
Those damned leaks! The seedy stories keep popping up out of nowhere and running straight to the Editor’s desk! Your job? Armed with a bat as John Prescott, try to stop as many stories as possible making it onto the front page. Scupper over 130 stories before time runs out and you’re on track for cabinet minister status.
About Matmi
Established in 2001, Matmi is a Cheshire based organic Internet farm whose produce is fresh and challenges everyday standards. Our latest projects include a Eurobest winner, the busiest Christmas viral games of 2006 and 2007, and a BIMA nominated viral for Comic Relief responsible for over 14 million visitors to the Red Nose Day 2007 website.
Matmi has been breaking new ground in viral marketing since 2001 before the term was coined and before online tracking facilities were available (type “cow curling” into Google for an example of a campaign for Anglo Drinks released in 2005). Matmi’s highly advanced seeding database enables clients to reach millions of potential buyers worldwide. Take a tour of our website or call us for a chat.
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jeff[.]matmi.com 
