Big Internet Bird-Watching Game Promotes Movie, Audubon Society

Goodby challenges you to spot the species

Animated birds are flapping across nearly 100 websites, including AOL, Discovery and Slate. Are they angry? What do they want from us? They're actually part of an online bird-watching game for Fox's new movie The Big Year, a comedy about wacky, hard-core bird enthusiasts that borrows more from Best in Show than Hitchcock. The green-tinged promos, dubbed Birding the Net, from ad agency Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, aimed at nature lovers with a tie-in to the Audubon Society, challenge players to go virtual bird-spotting for a chance to win a trip to the Galapagos Islands. (Each time you see a bird, it's a chance to add that species to your list.) The bird-loving group, trying to hip up its stodgy image, wants everyone to know it's "not your grandmother's Audubon" anymore. Fox wants massive digital exposure so that the flick will be top-of-mind when it opens Friday. As far as social-media marketing goes, the game is elegant and light, charming, addictive and fun. Wonder if it's better than the movie?