Existing CMiD solution: The Dark Knight
Explanation of the Dark Knight’s Alternate Reality Experience
To create the marketing campaign for the much-anticipated movie “The Dark Knight”, Warner Bros. recruited “42 Entertainment”; a company specialized in creating an producing alternate reality games. In order to create awareness and word-of-mouth marketing for the upcoming movie, Entertainment 42 created an alternate reality experience where participants felt as if they were part of the world of the Dark Knight. This viral marketing campaign was focused mainly on fans of the previous movie “Batman Begins”, stimulating them to earn new information and content regarding the sequel and share created content through social media.
In May 2007, 42 Entertainment initiated their alternate reality experience centred around the movie’s tagline “Why So Serious?” with the launch of a website dedicated to the political campaign of fictional character Harvey Dent with the caption. I believe in Harvey Dent” (see image below).
A vandalized version was also created, called “I Believe in Harvey Dent too”, where emails sent by fans slowly removed pixels, revealing the first official image of Batman’s main adversary in the movie: the Joker (see image below).
During the 2007 edition of an annual comic book convention called Comic-con, 42 Entertainment launched whysoserious.com. This website sent players on a virtual scavenger hunt to unlock a teaser trailer and a new photo of the Joker. The movie’s official website changed into a scavenger hunt in October 31st, 2007, stimulating visitors to explore and uncover clues at real life cities in the United States. Participants were also instructed to take photographs of their discoveries share them with other fans. When the clues were combined they formed a new photograph of the Joker as well as an audio clip of the Joker saying “And tonight, you’re gonna break your one rule.” When the participants had concluded the scavenger hunt they were lead to another website called “Rory’s Death Kiss”, where fans could submit pictures of themselves dressed as the Joker. These pictures were then sent to a fictional newspaper called “The Gotham Times” (see image below).
The digital version of this newspaper led to multiple additional websites, including a defaced Joker version called “The Ha Ha Ha Times” and even a website for the Gotham City rail with a subway map of the city (see image below).
On December 3rd, 2007, a new page appeared on whysoserious.com, including a hammer game and teddy bear toys. Each toy was labeled with an address located in a number of cities in the United States. The note on the game explained participants to go to the address and say their name is “Robin Banks” and they will receive a certain artifact. It turned out that the locations were bakeries and the participants received a cake with phone number written on it. Inside the cake was an evidence bag that contained a cell phone, a charger, a Joker playing card and a note with instructions (see images below).
The note read the following:
“Wow. You really took the cake! Now put the icing on it. Call [number] immediately from this phone and this phone only. Do not give this phone number to anyone else.
Let’s hope your fellow goons come through as well as you. Once all the layers are in place, you’ll all get your just desserts. I’m a man of my word.”
When the participant called the number, a female representative of a fictional company called “Rent-a-Clown” answered the phone, thanking the caller. After hanging up, the caller received the following text message:
“Good work, clown! Keep this phone charged and with you at all times. Don’t call me. I will call you … eventually.”
Once all the cakes were distributed, a new page was linked where users could sign up for a free screening pass to see the movie “I Am Legend” which included the first seven minutes of the Dark Knight movie. Another link also revealed the first teaser poster (see image below).
After the Death of Heath Ledger on January 22nd, 2008, Warner Bros. adjusted its promotional focus on the Joker. Some of the websites dedicated to promoting the movie were adjusted. The movie’s official website posted a memorial tribute to Heath Ledger. A black memorial ribbon way placed on the photo collage on whysoserious.com. In March 2008, Harvey Dent;s Fictional website informed fans that actual campaign buses named “Dentmobiles” would tour various cities in the United States, promoting Harvey Dent’s candidacy for district attorney.
AIDA Analysis
Below an AIDA analysis of the Dark Knight Alternate Reality Experience will be provided. Each aspect of AIDA (Attract/Attention/Awareness, Interest, Desire, Act) will be discussed.
Attract
Before the film’s opening Warner Bros. used an alternate reality experience to attract attention for the upcoming movie while keeping existing fans engaged. By allowing fans to earn new content while stimulating the creation and sharing of user-generated content, a dedicated fan base was created that shared their unique experience within their network, creating widespread viral marketing over the Internet. Since real life experiences are more powerful than virtual ones, object and events from the fictional world were recreated in the real world for users to experience, including recruitment efforts from the Joker through cakes, phone calls and “Dentmobiles” to promote Harvey Dent’s election for district attorney, and scavenger hunt in various cities. These real life events were so powerful that they attracted additional media attention from news channels and programs.
Interest
The viral marketing campaign was focused on fans of the current Batman movie franchise. These fans were hungry for any information or content regarding the upcoming sequel. However, Warner Bros. went much further than gradually distributing consecutive trailers and posters. Their created a fully realized, immersive experience that kept fans engaged, months before the release of the movie. 42 Entertainment used existing media such as websites and cell phones as well as the real world to recreate the fictional world as it is at the beginning of The Dark Knight movie. The reason why these specific media were used is because they allow the user to interact with it. The entire experience required input from fans. Putting effort into earning new content only made the participants more appreciative of the rewards, stimulating them to share their experience, igniting more interest.
Desire
42 Entertainment smartly chose to focus their marketing efforts on the current Batman movie franchise. As these fans were already engaged with the fictional world of The Dark Knight, 42 Entertainment decided to reward their dedication and create an immersive, 360 degrees experience that turned fans into citizens of the Gotham City. The experience required fans to act as actual residents of the fictional city, stimulating them to support Harvey Dent’s political campaign and become one of the Joker’s goons. Therefore only media were used that allowed for interaction, such as websites and real world locations. Their efforts were rewarded through exclusive content and experiences.
Act
Warner Bros. wanted to keep fans engaged with the world of the Dark Knight. Therefore the world of Batman was recreated for fans to engage in. The experience required participants to act as a citizen of Gotham City in order to enjoy exclusive content and experiences. The entire experience was so immersive and powerful that it created a strong community of fans. The week before the opening of The Dark Knight movie, fans of the movie created a neighborhood watch-style group called “Citizens for Batman”. Online forums were created where they shared photos and videos of support and uploaded sightings of Batman.
Tool
The different platforms utilized all served to communicate The Dark Knight’s alternate reality experience to fans. These platforms allowed players to interact with the experience through their own characteristics and functionalities. Presented below is a Touchpoint Matrix to give an overview of how fans interacted with these different media in what order.
Media
Websites
Communication goals:
– Provide information
– Provide new content
– Create an experience
– Engage visitors
– Stimulate interaction
– Reach a large audience
Specific qualities:
– Easily created and highly adaptable
– Visually strong
– Allows for interaction with user
– Accessible for everyone
AIDA analysis:
Attention
Websites can easily grab attention by providing exclusive content and information in a very graphic manner. This is also a very flexible platform, which allows user to upload and share content as well as provide strong interactive experiences, such as games.
Interest
Interest is created through a unique experience where an alternate reality is presented in this reality. Fans of the world of Batman can now live it through the websites and real world events. Fans are kept interested by gradually distributing new content and information on the upcoming movie.
Desire
The entire experience, including the website cater to the fans’ desire to be part of this fictional world. The website is also an ideal platform to deliver new images, audio and video related to the much anticipated production.
Act
Websites allow fans to act as citizens of Gotham City, following the Joker’s instructions as well as supporting Harvey Dent’s political campaign. Websites allow for various forms of interaction, ranging from playing games to uploading and sharing user-generated content.
Media Characteristics
Websites can easily be updated with new content or by adapting existing content. They are also accessible to everyone with an Internet connection as long as it does not require a password. Websites can include various forms of media, such as text, images, audio and video as well as interactive media, such as games. This makes websites the ideal platforms for those seeking to reach a large audience and provide a rich, immersive and continuous experience.
Physical locations
Communication goals:
– Powerful, immersive experiences
– Stimulates users generate content
– Feeds word-of-mouth marketing
– Engages spectators to participate
– Generates media attention
Specific qualities
– Relative easy to set up
– Reality creates the most powerful experience
– Allows target audience the physically meet one another
– Offers flexibility in the form of interaction
– Allows for the generation of user content
AIDA analysis
Attention
Recreating alternate reality events in this world, such as support for Harvey Dent’s election or “Dentmobiles” creates and attractive experience in the sense that it is highly visible and highly attractive for fans of the movie franchise to be part of. Large gatherings also generate a lot of media attention.
Interest
By creating an experience that allows users to earn exclusive new content and experiences, 42 Entertainment kept fans hooked. Links were created between the different experiences that stimulated fans to act as citizens of Gotham City and experience how the story unfolded, leading up to the vandalization of all content by the Joker when both Dent’s and the Joker’s storylines collided.
Desire
42 Entertainment created an experience that satisfied fans’ desire to be part of the fictional world of The Dark Knight. By creating a unique, alternate reality experience, fans felt as if they actual Gotham City citizens, having to support Harvey Dent and receiving instructions from the Jokes via cakes. This alternate reality was so real and immersive, that it spawned a strong online community in the form of “Citizens for Batman”.
Act
The experience demanded fans to act as citizens of Gotham City, stimulating them to support Harvey Dent’s political campaign as well as act as the Joker’s goons. The viral marketing campaign stimulated fans to physically interact with the experience, organizing real world scavenger hunt and gatherings. The online websites also required users to interact with the media, playing games or uploading and sharing user-generating content.
Media Characteristics
Location based experiences are relatively easily created and provide powerful, immersive experiences that allows participants to be part of a story. This stimulates the production of user-generated content, which can be shared via social media platforms. Large events, such as organized for the Dark Knight, also generate massive media attention. Organizing gatherings and stimulating participants to work together also generates strong, engaged communities.
Identity and Visual Design
42 Entertainment visually represented two sides of two major character in the movie’s storyline. First there is Harvey Dent and his election to run for district attorney. Websites dedicated to support Harvey Dent (aka “Gotham’s White Knight”) are clean and symmetrical. The red, white and blue of America’s flag are used on his website as well as all real life consumables for the election (see image below).
Then there is the Joker’s side of the campaign (aka The Clown Prince of Darkness). His side has a much more dirty and dark visual styling with gratuitous use of the colors black and brown. Clippings and bloodstains make the style complete (see image below).
Summary
42 Entertainments’ cross media viral marketing experience witnessed over 10 million participants in over 75 countries interacting in hundreds of webpages, games, mobile phones, print, email, real world events, video and unique collectibles. This was the first time such a large-scale, interactive experience was created over so many different platforms. However, all of these platforms served as platforms for fans to experience an alternate reality game. The main takeaway from this viral marketing campaign is that all of these media should serve to create a singular, cohesive experience. Another important characteristic of this campaign is that required effort from all participants. Fans needed to (inter)act to earn new content and new experiences. A third aspect is that the campaign focused on people that were already engaged with the movie, providing them with unique experiences allowing them share their excitement and passion for the franchise within their network, igniting fast spreading word-of-mouth marketing over the internet.
As smartphone applications were not as popular or widely available at the time of this campaign, they were not effectively utilized as part of this experience. As they are now and are part of this assignment, it would be wise to incorporate this new medium in the user’s experience.
Tsjoe Tsjoe 