It’s a bit special (and I don’t like Pullman much)..

Well, I’m no massive Philip Pullman fan (despite his obvious love of Paradise Lost, a book which I wrote my dissertation on).

But the film of the first book, Northern Lights, looks like it might be halfway decent (even if it shouldn’t be called the Golden Compass).

What’s even more impressive than the trailer is the work that’s gone into the microsite. It’s damned brilliant.

Something that makes it even better is that you can answer questions to find out which creature (or Daemone) you are. Here’s mine:

http://goldencompassmovie.com/goldenCompass_blog.swf?id=198679

The clever bit is that you can amend mine (and I can amend yours, if you put it on your blog or MySpace/Facebook).

As a result, I can find out what animal my friends think I am, and what personality traits you think I have (or don’t have, as the case may be).

This is a great example – along with the Simpsons avatar generator – of an infectious, relevant, interesting bit of digital work. Does anyone know which agency did the work? I couldn’t find out.

Whomever it was, congratulations – it’s the first ‘branded entertainment’ site in a while that I’ve stopped and played with.