It started on March 18, 2007 with the discovery of casting sides on a popular casting website. The sides were listed under the then working title for The Dark Knight, Rory’s First Kiss are presumed leaked sections of the script (as this was done with Batman Begins) Over the next year and four months the viral marketing campaign for The Dark Knight would create a fire storm of excitement for the movie. Not hype, which when started so early usually leads to a disappointing film. But genuine pure excitement for the movie beyond anything I’ve ever seen for a cinematic release. From the bat symbol being shot into the night sky from lights in New York City and Chicago to the puzzle that led those following closely enough to a free screening of the Dark Knight three days before its release. The viral marketing campaign behind the Dark Knight was like a large knit blanket thrown over the internet. Multiple websites, forums, wiki’s, posts on digg, myspace, the list of how wide spread this campaign is goes on. What is impressive (the entire campaign is impressive) is the way the characters from the film interacted with the viral marketing campaign. There was a second set of casting slides released on April first that were suspect of being fake, but actually included a hidden message saying “See you in December”, cell phones with instructions for more puzzles, rewards for ordering pizza through certain sites. Getting people involved on a entirely new level, the puzzle aspect of this campaign made being a part of it as exciting (if not more so) than the actual movie.
Participants (who were quick enough or followed closely enough) received a variety of merchandise varying from free tickets to a special trailer at the release of I am Legend in December, Masks, Cakes, Cell Phones, T Shirts, Free tickets to the actual screening (held on July 15th) The thing to point out is that it wasn’t just free pizza and some amazing still shots that were released to the participants, but items of value that encouraged people to get involved. Cell phones hidden in cakes that received texts from the Joker? Personally I’d have been happy with the cake, but blown away by a cell phone.
The company behind the campaign, Pasadena based 42 Entertainment has a rich history with viral marketing campaigns. Originating with the campaign behind Microsoft’s Windows Vista, a new type of marketing campaign was born. The Vanishing Point was a global cross-media puzzle game and the first of its kind. Spanning four weeks, players from around the world worked together to decipher embedded clues in real world events and eventually solve puzzles online to potentially win a trip to outer space.The results of this campaign? Over a million people visited the website, and nearly 100,000 people registered and actively played. In the coming months it will be interesting to see what the totals are for the campaign behind the Dark Knight. I think the only way anyone can truly appreciate the campaign is to review the time line listed at http://batman.wikibruce.com and to visit the list of actual websites created for the campaign (spanning over 40 websites)
Not all Viral Marketing campaigns are as successful. Sometimes, a viral marketing campaign gets more exposure than intended, especially when its tools are misidentified. The campaign behind the Aqua Teen Hunger Force film ended up getting more attention over the police being called in on a bomb scare in Boston than the actual campaign would have gathered on its own.
Truthfully, after researching viral marketing history and campaigns of the past…I have come to the conclusion that 42 Entertainment has truly broken the viral marketing mold in creating such an innovative campaign that sets the bar exceptionally high for future viral marketing campaigns. Of course, not all campaigns have to be as elaborate or as large…unless of course they want to draw as large a crowd as The Dark Knight surely will.
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