Stephen Fry leverages his followers to promote Sherlock Holmes

The second Guy Richie Sherlock Holmes film, A Game of Shadows, is out in the UK on Friday.

To help promote it the film company have persuaded Stephen Fry to post a daily puzzle to his 3.5m followers on Twitter.  This is very smart, because the official account for Sherlock Holmes 2 has only 3,600 followers.

Fry is in the film, as Mycroft, and is a huge Holmes fan.  When he was Celebrity Mastermind a few years ago he chose Holmes as his specialist subject.  (Amazingly he didn't win; he hadn't revised enough and didn't remember all the details).

For the past few days Fry has been tweeting teasers to his followers at 2.21 precisely (geddit? - It's Holmes address in Baker Street).  Followers need to answer correctly tweeting with the hashtag #GameOfShadowsUK and @-ing one of the partners - @BleedingCool, @LoveFilm, @IGNUK, @DigitalSpy, @msnmoviesuk, @HeatWorld, and @HeyUGuys

Here are Fry's tweets:

Lose me in a crowd, none can tell me from behind. Wealth, emotions, weapons, death: I play with what I find #GameOfShadowsUK
— Stephen Fry (@stephenfry) December5, 2011

You know my name and hear my voice, but cannot see my face. Another hides me from your view, held high above the palace #gameofshadowsuk
— Stephen Fry (@stephenfry) December6, 2011

If rich then I am good, if poor then I am ill. Fools say that they can know me, though I bend to no man’s will #GameOfShadowsUK
— Stephen Fry (@stephenfry) December9, 2011

I make friends into strangers, turn long streets into short. I take the city in a night, then vanish in a thought #GameOfShadowsUK
— Stephen Fry (@stephenfry) December 12, 2011

I hide away from sun and revel in the night, I dog your footsteps all day long and dance in candlelight #GameOfShadowsUK
— Stephen Fry (@stephenfry) December 13, 2011

Burn me and drown me, I grow stronger by and by. Dare to test my mettle and I cause sparks to fly #GameOfShadowsUK
— Stephen Fry (@stephenfry) December 14, 2011

The first person to get the correct answer (including the hashtag, and @-ing a media partner) each day wins a prize.

I think this is a very inventive use of Twitter to create anticipation for the film (& I'd love to know how much Fry got paid / or how it was tied into his contract for doing the film.)