Warner Bros. Pictures mounts a teaser campaign for the next Batman film “The Dark Knight” that is built around a secondary character but does not mention the “The Dark Knight” itself. The creative is mysterious and one of many online-centric initiatives.
Early in the “Dark Knight” marketing campaign, an official website for the film redirected viewers to www.ibelieveinharveydent.com–a URL notably lacking any references to Batman that urges “concerned Gotham citizens” to “take back Gotham City” by backing the candidate’s run for district attorney.
Says a “Los Angeles Times” notes the article by Chris Lee: “By employing a variety of untraditional awareness-building maneuvers and starting the film’s promo push strategically more than a year before release, marketers at the firm 42 Entertainment, which is subcontracted by the film’s distributor, Warner Bros., seem to have struck a chord with ‘The Dark Knight’s’ core constituency: fanboys and comic-book geeks. The promotional efforts–part viral marketing initiative, part ‘advertainment’–fit into an absorbing, nascent genre-bending pastime called alternate reality gaming that have been the toast of movie and comic blogs for months.”
Sending out many digital strands, “The Dark Knight’s” campaign also includes an alternate reality game (ARG for short); scavenger-hunting (movie fans are instructed to travel to real-world addresses to find clues); digital giveaway of movie-related items (at Comic-Con defaced replica dollar bills were issued by www.whysoserious.com); role-playing games; and an online pursuit of Joker character that includes clues spell out in skywriting, secret meeting points, cellphones embedded inside cakes, Internet red herrings, DIY fan contests and even fake political rallies in the real world.
In total, the Warner Bros. long-lead teaser campaign is inexpensive to mount because it doesn’t require buying costly advertisements. And its creative is crafted to attract and enchant fanboys who are opinion leaders in pop culture.
Says the “Los Angeles Times” article: “Before you could say ‘Holy meta-narrative, Batman!,’” fan bulletin boards and chat rooms went wild with news after players posted about the staged event online. ‘I’m staying glued to this ARG until its end,’ wrote blogger Matt Keyser, ‘and definitely seeing ‘The Dark Knight’ when it comes out.’”
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