Dispatches from Panem

“The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1” was released last week. The critics’ reaction has been lukewarm and, as a result, the box office performance has been somewhat disappointing (although it still had the best debut weekend of any movie this year.)

The marketing, however, has been awesome.

The campaign includes a Panem “government website” and virtual posters that celebrate the heroes of each district.

On YouTube, there is a pirate transmission from District 13 and “District Voices,” profiles of each district produced by the government “television network.” The first viral video in the campaign, a message from the dastardly President Snow, posted this summer, got more than a million hits on YouTube in its first week, and is now over 12 million.

This is already being held up as a “best-in-class” example of a great digital marketing campaign.