• by Shankar Gupta , April 18, 2006

In Google's first branded promotion on its home page, search giant Google has launched a campaign for the upcoming movie "The Da Vinci Code." The promotion offers users the chance to participate in a series of 24 branded entertainment puzzles, and promises a grand prize including trips to New York, Paris, London and Rome as well as various electronics from Sony.

The promotion for the Columbia Picture film is available only to users who have signed up for a Google personalized home page. Those users are given the opportunity to select a widget that displays daily puzzle challenges, and a running count of which challenges they've completed. The puzzles were designed by a team headed up by Google software engineer Wei-Hwa Huang--also a four-time World Puzzle Championship winner.

In addition to the puzzles on the home page, the promotion is also designed to lead contestants to other Google products, including the main search page, Google Maps, Google SMS and Google Video.

The puzzles will run until the movie's release on May 19, and the final challenge for the grand prize package will take place on May 21. Search expert John Battelle Sunday reported on his blog, BattelleMedia.com, that Sony did not pay Google for the promotion.