The Press Room

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EXTENSIVE PUBLICITY CAMPAIGN IS LAUNCHED FOR
SECRETS OF THE CODE

An extensive movie theater ad campaign, radio commercials, TV and radio satellite tours, a word-of-mouth marketing campaign through BzzAgent, Google ads, and more are all part of CDS Books’ launch of the paperback of the New York Times and worldwide best seller, SECRETS OF THE CODE: The Unauthorized Guide to the Mysteries Behind The Da Vinci Code, edited by Dan Burstein. Here are some of the highlights of the marketing campaign:

* Ads for SECRETS OF THE CODE will run on 400 movie screens for two weeks beginning May 19 in most major markets where The Da Vinci Code is showing. The ads will reinforce the message that SECRETS OF THE CODE, the world’s bestselling guide to the issues at the heart of The Da Vinci Code, can aid the millions of filmgoers who will leave the theater with questions and a desire to continue the conversation.

* Radio commercials will air May 22-28 in 10 major markets.

* A TV satellite tour on May 18 preceded by a 20 city radio satellite tour on May 10, both arranged by Planned Television Arts.

* Internet marketing plans are extensive and diverse including a brand new informational website at http://www.SECRETSOFTHECODE.COM; a wide-ranging Google keyword ad campaign; and a newly launched blog to address the many issue in The Da Vinci Code in more depth. Dan Burstein’s SECRETS OF THE CODE blog is available at http://www.secretsofthecode.blogspot.com

* An Expanded Books video interview with editor Dan Burstein will be streamed to AOL, Yahoo, etc.

* Dan Burstein will make his second appearance on PalTalk, May 23, at 9:00 p.m. EDT for a one-hour live, global interactive video chat. PalTalk is a user-generated video and text discussion network that has 4 million subscribers worldwide.

* Marketing outreach on bookreporter.com, one of the most dynamic, creative, and credible readers’ sites.

* A word-of-mouth campaign through BzzAgent, the Boston-based leader in this field of marketing is underway.

* SECRETS OF THE CODE and author/editor Dan Burstein will receive extensive promotion at the upcoming Book Expo America 2006 in Washington, D.C., the book industry’s major annual trade show. Burstein will be signing SECRETS OF THE CODE in the Perseus Booth #3324, May 19, 12:30 – 1:30 p.m. He will also appear on a panel at 10:00 a.m. on May 19 about the impact of blogs and the blogosphere on the Bookosphere. (Burstein is also co-author of the book, BLOG! How the Newest Media Revolution is Changing Politics, Business, and Culture, CDS BOOKS, 2005).

* SECRETS OF THE CODE - a feature film documentary, directed by two-time Academy Award nominee Jonathan Stack, recently screened at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York and Hot Docs in Toronto, has just announced that actress Susan Sarandon will be the film’s narrator. The film will be released on the heels of The Da Vinci Code movie.

* U.S. News & World Report has published a new, updated version of its "SECRETS OF THE DA VINCI CODE," based almost entirely on licensed content from SECRETS OF THE CODE. This special collector’s edition is currently on newsstands everywhere.

* Wetpaint, an Internet-based start-up that specializes in creating "wiki"-based communities around intriguing and important subjects of public conversation, has chosen SECRETS OF THE CODE as one of its launch sites. Da Vinci Code fans can join the conversation at: http://secretsbehindthedavincicode.wetpaint.com/

* SECRETS OF ANGELS, DEMONS & MASONS – A two-hour television documentary, based on Dan Burstein and Arne de Keijzer’s book, SECRETS OF ANGELS & DEMONS, will be shown on 21 PBS markets in mid-May. It is already available on DVD.

* History Channel – Dan Burstein and several of the other experts in SECRETS OF THE CODE will be appearing in the Emmy-award nominated documentary, "BEYOND THE DA VINCI CODE," which will be replayed in May on the History Channel, timed to coincide with the opening of The Da Vinci Code movie. Burstein and another “Secrets” team member, David Shugarts, also appear as guest experts on a brand-new History Channel two-hour documentary, “MYSTERIES OF THE FREEMASONS,” which premiers May 18.

* As one of the world’s leading experts on the Da Vinci Code phenomenon, Dan Burstein will be appearing on many of the national TV news and talk show discussions of the debates and controversies surrounding The Da Vinci Code.

SECRETS OF THE CODE is a compulsively readable and meticulously researched guide for interpreting the intricacies of The Da Vinci Code, exploring the religious, historic, artistic, and scientific questions that emerge in the novel and will also emerge in the movie. It features interviews and commentary along a wide spectrum of opinion of more than 40 renowned scholars, theologians, scientists and historians about the true identity of Mary Magdalene, the Gnostic Gospels and other alternative scriptures, the facts concerning the Priory of Sion and Opus Dei, the scores of plot flaws and inconsistencies, the meaning of secret codes and messages hidden with the novel, and much more.

First published in hardcover in 2004, SECRETS OF THE CODE spent over five months on the New York Times Bestseller list and has been a bestseller worldwide, appearing in 28 foreign editions, with two million copies now in print. The paperback edition of SECRETS OF THE CODE arrived in bookstores in April.

“Dan Burstein and his book are unique, dynamic and substantial,” notes Roger Cooper, Vice-President and Publisher of CDS Books. “Given the extraordinary timing and credibility of this book and the opening of The Da Vinci Code movie as well as the unprecedented nation-wide conversation the book and movie have generated, we felt it was essential to think of new and innovative ways to market both Dan and his books.”

SECRETS OF THE CODE is part of the “Secrets” series created by Dan Burstein and Arne de Keijzer. The series also includes Secrets of Angels & Demons, Secrets of the Widow’s Son, and Secrets of Mary Magdalene (to be published by CDS Books in Fall 2006). The series now has three million books in print worldwide. Edited by Burstein and de Keijzer, the “Secrets” books have been bestsellers in almost every major global publishing market. Burstein is a much sought-out expert on the issues relating to The Da Vinci Code and has appeared on numerous television specials from the History Channel’s “Beyond the Da Vinci Code” to Inside Edition, Geraldo, and MSNBC.

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