"Bridget Jones" Author Taps U.K. Mobile Content Firm

Author Helen Fielding, the author of the Bridget Jones books, will work with wireless content player Riot Entertainment to build on buzz surrounding Miramax Films’ release of “Bridget Jones’ Diary” next weekend.

Through terms of a two-year deal with the London-based writer, Riot-E will aim to turn the popularity of the Bridget Jones character into a draw for its mobile content, which includes wireless games and puzzles.

The effort also is aimed to extend and promote the Bridget Jones brand. First, it is intended to attract fans of the upcoming film release to the Fielding books, Bridget Jones’ Diary and its sequel, Edge of Reason, which just came out in paperback. Additionally, it’s geared toward keeping existing fans of the books — generally women in their late 20s and early 30s — involved with the franchise.

“Mobile phones are a perfect way to add another dimension to book characters such as Bridget,” said Riot-E chief executive Jan Wellmann. “Mobile is flexible, dynamic and has an immediacy which is not possible with any other medium. ‘Bridget’ can [write] others every day, to report on the progress of her bikini diet or other urgent matters.”

Through the agreement, Fielding will produce daily content to be distributed via SMS to Riot-E subscribers. The content will include daily diary updates from Bridget Jones, personality tests, “Ask Bridget,” and so on.

The messages will feature what readers will recognize as the Bridget Jones character’s trademark style: chatty, abbreviated and laden with statistics — for instance: “2nd April — alcohol units 4 (drowning sorrows) cigarettes 9 (fumigating sorrows) calories 4,879 (smothering sorrows in fat duvet) text messages from Daniel 0 (bad) text messages sent and received regarding lack of text messages from Daniel: 492 (very very bad).”

U.K.-based Riot-E has also struck similar deals recently, aimed at promoting its promotional services to established entertainment companies. In August, Riot-E landed a partnership with Marvel Entertainment to develop mobile entertainment and community content around Marvel comic book characters.

Similarly to the “Bridget Jones” effort, Riot-E ran a wireless game based on Marvel’s X-Men characters in Italy and Finland, at the same time as the movie debuted in those countries. The company runs a similar promotion in Japan, and launched the game in the Philippines last month.