The most fun that I have ever had taking part in a marketing campaign hands down has to be the 'Why So Serious' campaign done by Alternate Reality Branding company, 42 Entertainment in preparation for Warner Brothers' The Dark Knight. This interactive campaign was so detailed and elaborate that it was impossible not to stay glued to my computer waiting for more.. plus, pretending that I lived in Gotham City for about a year was a fanboy dream on its own.
Why So Serious?
In the months leading up to the release of The Dark Knight, an alternate reality experience attracted more than 10 million viewers to real time Gotham City, a city where the Joker had begun leaving his mark on posters and bills, and started building an army of henchmen all over the world. Whysoserious.com started leaving clues from the Joker, revealing coordinates that would eventually lead players to Comic-Con 2007. Here, players gathered to take their first orders from the Joker, which they found typed up in the sky as a few planes left a cloudy phone number above. Players hit the streets dressed as their leader and Gotham City began to spill into the real world, building excitement and anticipation for The Dark Knight.
The website then left ransom notes for 49 cities and location descriptions for people to look for new clues as to where he would strike next. Their efforts put together yet another piece of the puzzle, which revealed one of the first official images of the Joker. In a request to hit local international landmarks in full Joker get-up, a worldwide community formed. A Gotham City newspaper led made this world even more realistic, a world where nothing was saved from the Joker. The Gotham Times kept players up to date with Gotham news and even a televised news channel was made available starring Anthony Michael Hall as the news anchor, along with Police reports and audio tapes to expose crooked cops. The next clue was a list of specific bakery locations where players had to arrive and introduce themselves as Robin Banks to receive the joker’s special present, a cake, at a first come first serve basis. The hidden package inside of the cake held a Joker phone, card, and press badge to keep in constant contact with this Gotham underground world.
I Believe in Harvey Dent
As the immersive marketing campaign was reaching a critical mass, it even reached bowling allies around the world. The website once again showed a list of cities, but this time with a list of addresses with numbers attached to them. The numbers turned out to be locker numbers and combinations at specific bowling alleys. Inside the locker, the lucky player would find a bag containing a custom Jokerized bowling ball, another Joker phone, and more clues that eventually led to the reveal of an exclusive trailer of the dark knight.. but the Joker got there first. The trailer had been vandalized with smiley faces and “Ha Ha Ha’s” as soon as it became available.
Citizens for Batman
In the months leading up to the release of The Dark Knight, an alternate reality experience attracted more than 10 million viewers to real time Gotham City, a city where the Joker had begun leaving his mark on posters and bills, and started building an army of henchmen all over the world. Whysoserious.com started leaving clues from the Joker, revealing coordinates that would eventually lead players to Comic-Con 2007. Here, players gathered to take their first orders from the Joker, which they found typed up in the sky as a few planes left a cloudy phone number above. Players hit the streets dressed as their leader and Gotham City began to spill into the real world, building excitement and anticipation for The Dark Knight.
The website then left ransom notes for 49 cities and location descriptions for people to look for new clues as to where he would strike next. Their efforts put together yet another piece of the puzzle, which revealed one of the first official images of the Joker. In a request to hit local international landmarks in full Joker get-up, a worldwide community formed. A Gotham City newspaper led made this world even more realistic, a world where nothing was saved from the Joker. The Gotham Times kept players up to date with Gotham news and even a televised news channel was made available starring Anthony Michael Hall as the news anchor, along with Police reports and audio tapes to expose crooked cops. The next clue was a list of specific bakery locations where players had to arrive and introduce themselves as Robin Banks to receive the joker’s special present, a cake, at a first come first serve basis. The hidden package inside of the cake held a Joker phone, card, and press badge to keep in constant contact with this Gotham underground world.
I Believe in Harvey Dent
A campaign to take back Gotham City from criminals like the Joker came into play as well. Prospective D.A. Harvey Dent contacted phone carriers for their support in his campaign with the slogan “I believe in Harvey Dent.” Dent asked for players to show their support. The response was overwhelming as pictures from around the country poured in. Dent-mobiles brought Harvey Dent’s message to 33 cities as citizens took to the streets and marched, protested, rallied, screamed, and chanted “Harvey Dent! Take Back Gotham!”
As the immersive marketing campaign was reaching a critical mass, it even reached bowling allies around the world. The website once again showed a list of cities, but this time with a list of addresses with numbers attached to them. The numbers turned out to be locker numbers and combinations at specific bowling alleys. Inside the locker, the lucky player would find a bag containing a custom Jokerized bowling ball, another Joker phone, and more clues that eventually led to the reveal of an exclusive trailer of the dark knight.. but the Joker got there first. The trailer had been vandalized with smiley faces and “Ha Ha Ha’s” as soon as it became available.
Citizens for Batman
The campaign reached its climactic ending during the week of the Dark Knight’s theatrical release. Hundreds of players gathered, calling themselves ‘Citizens for Batman’ in downtown New York City. At 10pm sharp, the bat signal was projected against one of the nearby buildings. Once again, the Joker had plans of his own. The bat signal was quickly vandalized in front of everyone’s eyes, along with everything else in Gotham City. Every website, every newspaper, every article, every piece of this alternate reality was market by the Joker as his final act of chaos before the events of The Dark Knight.
So just in case anyone thought it was cute but a waste of money, The Dark Knight went on to have the highest opening of all time and was the top grossing film of 2008. Since then, I have yet to see a campaign as immersive as Why So Serious, but with The Dark Knight Rises in theaters next summer.. here's hoping we'll get some of that fun again soon.
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