I’m really excited about this.

Fourth Story Media will soon be launching a new brand/book/website/social media extravaganza, named, “The Amanda Project”. Aimed primarily at 12-14 year old girls, but certain to attract older users as well, the idea pushing T.A.P. along is a cross-platform mystery intended to find out one thing – who is Amanda, the enigmatic new kid in school?

This is an original attempt to create a multimedia brand featuring a book as one of its components, but the reason the project has me so interested is because I had a similar idea last summer, utilizing a similar blend of media albeit with a completely different story and target audience. The obvious roadblock I faced was the lack of available talent to work on such a huge project, but Fourth Story Media have enlisted the help of ace design and usability agency, Happy Cog, to bring The Amanda Project to life.

Earlier last year I talked about T.A.P. with Lisa Holton, Founder of Fourth Story Media and ex SVP of Disney Children’s Books. My impression was that even though the cards were being played, quite rightly, close to the chest on the brand’s actual content, there was a great deal of optimism and anticipation about how the project would be received by audiences once all of the components are available.

I don’t disagree with the choice to make the brand girl-specific – research shows the target audience both read more than boys at this age, and are also more likely to contribute to an online community, but I’m curious to know why Fourth Story Media didn’t choose a non gender-specific theme. For instance, how would a male 12-14-year-old be received in the online community if he wanted to be a part of it and had something useful to contribute?

The Amanda Project already fascinates me and I’m certain it will be a big success. No doubt I will be sharing more thoughts about this soon, but in the meantime, take a look a peek at the teaser below and watch this space for more news as the brand becomes closer to launch.