The Dark Knight Does It Again

When it comes to the idea of movie marketing, I have to admit that I am constantly impressed by the campaign put on by Warner Bros. to promote it's newest Batman movie, The Dark Knight. Whenever marketing is discussed in my major our teachers always push the idea of how important WOM (word of mouth) is to your campaign, as well as how hard it is to obtain. Warner Bros. has definetley taken this complex idea and made it look more simple than it ever has.

My previous post about The Dark Knight talked about the viral marketing campaign they had at the Comicon in San Diego in July. Their newest scavenger hunt sent Batman lovers all throughout their home cities searching for clues that could be found on its newest viral marketing site whysoserious.com.

People from all over the US set out in their city to find just exactly what they were looking for in their clue. Guided only by their hint as well as a partial snapshot of what exactly they were looking for, viewers who found the letter were then instructed to send it to the web site where it would be posted and they would be credited for finding it first

So what exactly did everyone find? A nice little letter from the Joker explaining "The Only Sensible Way to Live in This World Is Without Rules". After clicking on the envelope were this is spelled out, a picture of the Joker from the movie appears. By clicking on the picture of the Joker, you are then directed to their NEWEST virial marketing campaign, released on October 31st.

The Joker instructs its viewers to paint themselves up like him and go around town taking pictures in front of famous landmarks. The letter is actually pretty funny because you can see how the company is trying to protect itself all throughout the letter while still making it sound like the Joker wrote it. For instance, one sentence explains how it doesn't want to be sued if someone does something stupid for this scavenger hunt:

"Put on a show in front of the most famous landmark in your city, but dont get arrested -- you are no use to me behind bars"

They also try to ensure that viewers know their pictures will not be used anywhere without their permission by stating:

"Pictures are like ears: anything you lend me I am not giving back"

All and all it is shaping up to be a pretty interesting campaign. Keep checking back to the newest virial site Rory's Kiss of Death to see what happens once the Joker has filled his quota of photos.


On a side note, I'd like to give a little shout out to Judy Kim, producer of the a new independent movie titled Screeh! of the Decapitated. Our class recently had the pleasure of having Judy come into our classroom and talk about the movie industry as well as her film. To be completly honest, I had no intentions of watching the film when I first began seeing it advertised around our campus (ITHACA COLLEGE REPRESENT!). However, after listening to Judy, which was easily one of the best public speakers I have ever listened to, talk about her film I became interested. Just from listening to her you could tell that she knew exactly what she was talking about as well as that she had experienced a lot in the movie industry. So, if you're a fan of such movies as The Rocky Horror Picture Show, this movie will definetly be up your ally and worth your time to check out.