Yahoo! Article mentions TDK Virals

[riskproductions]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080430/film_nm/virals_dc

Seems at the end the article kinda says TDK virals are a copy off Cloverfield. Didnt the TDK virals start before cloverfield, or at least simultaneously?

[Andrizzle]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080430/film_nm/virals_dc

Seems at the end the article kinda says TDK virals are a copy off Cloverfield. Didnt the TDK virals start before cloverfield, or at least simultaneously?

In case anyone doesn't have the time to read that, I'll give you a quick synopsis:

These damn kids today with their internets and their newfangled web sites making me feel stupid, I tried to order a sandwich from the batman deli and I still haven't gotten it! I bet those nerds think they're better than me because they can break those jap codes and get their batman sandwiches... How much does all this cost anyway? I remember when all we got was a black and white trailer and we were grateful!

After showing off my swag and talking about my experiences, I got three of my friends (two of which who wouldn't have called themselves "Batman fans" a week ago) to skip class on Monday and ride in my 91 Camry 6 hours round trip to be a part of it. They are hooked now. They are all going to see the movie and they're telling their friends and their parents about the virals.

That is the concept, Andrew Wallenstein. For the price of three Joker cards, they are going to get at least $30 more dollars in box office revenue, the only metric that seems to matter for judging the success of a movie anymore. And that's assuming the virus of their marketing fails to spread to anyone else.

You lose, sir.

[riskproductions]

Haha, yeah, the writer of the article was an idiot. I see the scenario:

(Reuters) Hey Bob, write a story on this viral thing
(Bob) *looks at size of TDK Viral Wiki* Screw this, I'll click on the whysoserious site for one second and then make the rest up

lol

[Andrizzle]

Also, you're right riskproductions (http://forums.superherohype.com/member.php?u=52986), Cloverfield wasn't announced until it had it's trailer before Transformers on July 3rd, a month and a half after the comic book store employee found the Joker cards stamped "I Believe in Harvey Dent Too!"

If this reporter had so much as googled for the batman ARG he could have found the wiki and seen that himself.

[byte19]

idiot. interview me holding the reel!!! i'll change his perception!!

[ActuallyRobin]

wow, what a douche.

[dubdue]

The only thing I can agree with in this article is that the money spent on the marketing may have been better suited for catching the "non-target" audience.

But hell, like Andrizzle said, he's brought people in that normally wouldn't have. That's the brilliance of this. Where 42/WB is marketing this towards us, we are the ones spreading it like wild fire.

The fact that Joe Blow over at YooHoo! did a piece on it shows that the marketing is working.

[JackBauer24]

I'm sorry - is anybody forcing this guy to take part?

[cado]

The only thing I can agree with in this article is that the money spent on the marketing may have been better suited for catching the "non-target" audience.

But hell, like Andrizzle said, he's brought people in that normally wouldn't have. That's the brilliance of this. Where 42/WB is marketing this towards us, we are the ones spreading it like wild fire.

The fact that Joe Blow over at YooHoo! did a piece on it shows that the marketing is working.

The problem is that this isn't Joe Blow. This is the Entertainment writer for Reuters, a respected news source. I''m sending an email to their editorial staff, and I think we should all do the same. Just remember to be polite! People start ignoring you when you throw around slander.

[punk]

For Reuter's "guy" on Entertainment reviews, he doesn't seem to know **** about viral marketing.

For the uninitiated, viral marketing involves hatching multiple interconnected Web sites that plug a movie by extending its story lines online. That in turn gets blogs and social networks linking in -- hence its viral nature.

Ah, so it's an Internet thing, eh, boyo?

[cado]

For Reuter's "guy" on Entertainment reviews, he doesn't seem to know **** about viral marketing.



Ah, so it's an Internet thing, eh, boyo?

Yeah, I just sent him this message on Facebook:

Dear Mr. Wallenstein,

This article shows an immensely biased view of Viral Marketing without really doing any research on the history of this genre of story telling. Known in internet circles as Alternate Reality Games (ARGs), they are not always attached to movies, though some of the bigger productions tend to be. 42 Entertainment (http://www.42entertainment.com/), which is heading up "The Dark Knight" ARG, was one of the first companies devoted to this kind of immersive entertainment experience. Their first work was on "The Beast," an interactive online and offline experience that immersed the fan-base in the "story before the story" of the Steven Speilberg film A.I. I suggest that you do some more research before dismissing the idea of Viral Marketing altogether. Your comment about how "When "Cloverfield" played around with viral strategies, it was cool. Now that everyone else is copying -- not so cool," you blatantly disregard, either purposefully or through negligence, the fact that "Cloverfield" was not the first ARG, that the "Dark Knight" ARG started at around the same time as Cloverfield did, and that they were organized by two different companies. There is also the fact that ARGs or "Viral Marketing" isn't just for movies. A simple look at 42 Entertainment's website would show that they have worked for Microsoft, released their own book that was based on the format of an ARG, and recently headed up the ARG for Nine Inch Nail's album "Year Zero". I highly suggest that you do some research and re-write your "expose" on viral marketing, because you are certainly missing the big picture.

"We are the storytellers who pioneer new forms of cross-platform narratives and build powerful online communities, to create highly participatory experiences for our audiences." - 42 Entertainment

[zenbird]

I feel like THE BLAIR WITH PROJECT really started the viral marketing thing...remember? at least, it seems that way to me.

TDK had Cloverfield beat as well - but I think a large majority of online journalists were too busy riding Cloverfield's jock to see anything else, especially the much more intricate and certainly more fun DK ARG.

[punk]

What I was trying to get across is that viral marketing is not an exclusive product of the Internet. It is not an Internet "thing." It can be done via any medium: TV, radio, newspapers, magazines, etc. The Internet is just one medium, and it also happens to be one of the most prevalent. It's able to reach millions of people all over the world instantly.

The fact that he ties in viral marketing with the Internet, as if the two are joined at the hip, shows how ignorant he is of the subject itself.

[TDK Joker]

How can that reporter say that this very marketing is "not-so-cool"? I dont know what Cloverfield did (apart from a japenese milkshake website-wow sounds like fun!) but The Dark Knight has given away free phones, bowling balls, joker cards, got us into the odean for free(!) This is the best thing to ever happen to a movie. That reporter's just dumb.

[super_bik]

In case anyone doesn't have the time to read that, I'll give you a quick synopsis:



After showing off my swag and talking about my experiences, I got three of my friends (two of which who wouldn't have called themselves "Batman fans" a week ago) to skip class on Monday and ride in my 91 Camry 6 hours round trip to be a part of it. They are hooked now. They are all going to see the movie and they're telling their friends and their parents about the virals.

That is the concept, Andrew Wallenstein. For the price of three Joker cards, they are going to get at least $30 more dollars in box office revenue, the only metric that seems to matter for judging the success of a movie anymore. And that's assuming the virus of their marketing fails to spread to anyone else.

You lose, sir.

Yep, my roommate who hates superhero movies is now dying to see The Dark Knight because of the viral campaign. I think it's working :D

[doctorkenyon]

Lazy lazy journalism.

It really annoys me, most journalists work hard and get their facts straight. It only takes a few to give us all bad names.

[TDK Joker]

Yep, my roommate who hates superhero movies is now dying to see The Dark Knight because of the viral campaign. I think it's working :D

Same here, but its my sister instead of roommate. She's really excited for it and she isn't one of the girls who likes superhero movies.

[Sam_Cooksey]

These damn kids today with their internets and their newfangled web sites making me feel stupid, I tried to order a sandwich from the batman deli and I still haven't gotten it! I bet those nerds think they're better than me because they can break those jap codes and get their batman sandwiches... How much does all this cost anyway? I remember when all we got was a black and white trailer and we were grateful!

LOL!

That reminds me of Dana Carvey's "Grumpy Old Man" character from SNL:

"In my day we didn't have these fancy moving picture shows, and their kooky viral marketing. In my day, we'd get a postcard telling us to go stand in a line for hours in 100 degree heat just to go into a dark room, where some big meat-fisted mobster would punch us in the gut and take our wallets; then he'd poke us in the eye with a stick before throwing us out the back window in a bloody heap.

And we liked it!"

[super_bik]

I don't know what this guy is thinking, really. The virals make it something more than just a movie and makes people that much more excited.

Maybe he just hates puzzles. And fun.

[TDK Joker]

I don't know what this guy is thinking, really. The virals make it something more than just a movie and makes people that much more excited.

Plus it makes the fans feel like they're a part of the film as well in a way.

[escobar2248]

How can that reporter say that this very marketing is "not-so-cool"? I dont know what Cloverfield did (apart from a japenese milkshake website-wow sounds like fun!) but The Dark Knight has given away free phones, bowling balls, joker cards, got us into the odean for free(!) This is the best thing to ever happen to a movie. That reporter's just dumb.

The Cloverfield ARG wasn't bad. It left alot open to interpretation. But it wasn't nearly involved or compelling as TDK's ARG has been.

[MAb]

What a stick in the mud!
Cado- whats the email addy you sent an email to? I'd like to send one as well. I looked for his contact info on the web, but can't find it.

[super_bik]

Plus it makes the fans feel like they're a part of the film as well in a way.

Exactly, I haven't been so excited about a movie in a long time.

I guess everyone's entitled to their own opinion, but it still baffles me that someone can be bitter about this. Who could argue against extra Batman entertainment?

:hq:

[Joker8906]

TDK virals are better than CLoverfields because the Virals for TDK actually RELATE TO THE MOVIE. I WAS PISSED ABOUT THE CLOVERFIELD VIRALS

[FromThisGirl]

That's viral marketing for you -- compelling, creative and intricate but above all just plain exhausting. Since when should marketing feel like doing homework?

This is another example of how some people want this world's level of brain usage to go down the drain. I don't know about you guys, but I love having to think about all these things and what they may lead to, and what kind of codes we need to crack what's at hand. Doing the work is half the fun, as I've seen it said a million times on these boards. This guy is basically saying, "Damn, I hate this game, I can't believe I actually have to use my brain! Oh noes!"

It's ridiculous, and Yahoo! shouldn't allow that to remain up, it's overly biased and a bit of a poke at the fans of these ARGs.

[cinematheque]

I feel like THE BLAIR WITH PROJECT really started the viral marketing thing...remember? at least, it seems that way to me.

TDK had Cloverfield beat as well - but I think a large majority of online journalists were too busy riding Cloverfield's jock to see anything else, especially the much more intricate and certainly more fun DK ARG.

This is definitely true. The Blair Witch Project's success is pretty much based singlehandedly on its internet buzz and the fact that they tried to make it look real. Because at the time the internet was somewhat underdeveloped, or anyway, a LOT less complex than it is now, they actually managed to hoodwink people into believing that this was true. Though it wasn't an ARG, it was probably the first happening of viral marketing and consequently it kicked a small, low-budget indie movie into blockbuster position and it made it one of the most profitable movies ever made.

After this game the second and third Matrix movies, which you may say suck and many may agree, but nevertheless, the Matrix movies necessarily turned the story into one you HAD to experience through the Animatrix, Enter the Matrix, the movies and the comics in order to see the whole story. This was essentially the first time a story was specifically created to function on several platforms and was way too big for any one fan to learn alone--they necessitated networking.

Then there was The Beast, the first ARG for Spielberg's A.I. Most people thought this game was better than the movie. Me, I'm hoping that this game will be like The Beast inasmuch as that game continued for like a month after the release of the movie.

But, you're definitely right here. I can site sources on all this stuff.

The only thing I can agree with in this article is that the money spent on the marketing may have been better suited for catching the "non-target" audience.

But hell, like Andrizzle said, he's brought people in that normally wouldn't have. That's the brilliance of this. Where 42/WB is marketing this towards us, we are the ones spreading it like wild fire.

The fact that Joe Blow over at YooHoo! did a piece on it shows that the marketing is working.


I think that notion is fair enough, but the Nolan version of Batman is very much a sign of the times with WB. I mean they learned the hard way when they made a mistake with Harry Potter that it was far better and more profitable in the end to work with the fans and when Nolan pitched Begins to them, they took him up on it even though he had only done some indie work beforehand because it was more important to them that the franchise regain the fans it had alienated with such lines as "ICE to see you!" in the 1997 catastrophe. They purposely made the decision to make a Batman movie that was less focused on drawing in record numbers and more focused on restarting the Batman franchise to be more successful, which makes it exactly 23498290348239048 times higher up than Cloverfield, whose viral existed solely to generate revenue on opening weekend and then fizzle out by the next week. (It experienced one of the highest second-week drops at the box office ever, although it was preceded by the highest January opening ever.)

So the fact that the WB made a firm decision this time to make a good movie that would please the fans than make an okay movie that would please the public is frankly one of my favorite things ever. In this Warner Bros sort of became a sparkling and beautiful production company in my eyes--they gave Nolan something like carte blanche on the one condition that Begins was good, and it was.

So my point here is that MAYBE using the money spent on this game on advertising would draw in more revenue if used for a more typical ad campaign bent on drawing on audiences that weren't already fans, but the key here is that the game adds new layers of complexity to a story that exists based on its potential for realism. It was important for Nolan (and Bale) to make a movie that people could imagine actually happening. I mean the biochemical terrorism stuff--maybe there's no Fear Toxin really, but in 2005, and now, it's not difficult to see where things like this could actually happen. Nobody has any superpowers in the Nolan version and everyone becomes who they are without falling in a vat of chemicals. Some of the technology is pretty hard to buy, but as is the way of things, you can imagine technology like that existing in the near future even if it doesn't yet. People say we can make flying cars but just don't...I mean it's fair enough to believe that the tumbler could exist, or that, you know, Batman's suit could be used for spelunking.

SO, in short, what the Yahoo idiot doesn't understand is that the game is created for fans because this franchise functions based on loyalty. What we'll probably find this game does is encourage repeat viewings and the extensive purchase of ancillary products.

It's just very natural to assume that if we've been involved in a movie for as many hard but usually enjoyable hours as we have, we're not just going to forget it the moment the credits roll. The game has turned casual fans into loyal ones and has made us ACTUALLY partake in the events leading up to the movie. It's so experiential that we'll probably enjoy the movie so much more because we contributed. It turned Gotham into a real place, where we have to do tasks for the Joker and beat each other down for bowling balls and catch dirty cops and march in political rallies. I mean, I think most of us always wanted to be part of the comic book world, and now we are actually playing in it.

And the public who isn't interested in the game doesn't HAVE to do the homework. We do the game because it's fun. We know that if we all gave up all of a sudden and went on strike (which, why would we? Most of us play it not for rewards but because we think it's incredibly fun), Warner Bros would STILL release the trailer. It's not like general audiences don't get the same stuff--they get posters and teasers and trailers just like everybody else. They don't do the work for it; we do the work for it. Most of them don't even know about us.

Anyway, I'm just very passionate about this kind of marketing, especially in this case. I think it's a very cool way to connect with fans who had been ignored for so long because studios favored the general public, and I think it's a very effective way of bringing Gotham into real space and time.

[super_bik]

This is definitely true. The Blair Witch Project's success is pretty much based singlehandedly on its internet buzz and the fact that they tried to make it look real. Because at the time the internet was somewhat underdeveloped, or anyway, a LOT less complex than it is now, they actually managed to hoodwink people into believing that this was true. Though it wasn't an ARG, it was probably the first happening of viral marketing and consequently it kicked a small, low-budget indie movie into blockbuster position and it made it one of the most profitable movies ever made.

After this game the second and third Matrix movies, which you may say suck and many may agree, but nevertheless, the Matrix movies necessarily turned the story into one you HAD to experience through the Animatrix, Enter the Matrix, the movies and the comics in order to see the whole story. This was essentially the first time a story was specifically created to function on several platforms and was way too big for any one fan to learn alone--they necessitated networking.

Then there was The Beast, the first ARG for Spielberg's A.I. Most people thought this game was better than the movie. Me, I'm hoping that this game will be like The Beast inasmuch as that game continued for like a month after the release of the movie.

But, you're definitely right here. I can site sources on all this stuff.




I think that notion is fair enough, but the Nolan version of Batman is very much a sign of the times with WB. I mean they learned the hard way when they made a mistake with Harry Potter that it was far better and more profitable in the end to work with the fans and when Nolan pitched Begins to them, they took him up on it even though he had only done some indie work beforehand because it was more important to them that the franchise regain the fans it had alienated with such lines as "ICE to see you!" in the 1997 catastrophe. They purposely made the decision to make a Batman movie that was less focused on drawing in record numbers and more focused on restarting the Batman franchise to be more successful, which makes it exactly 23498290348239048 times higher up than Cloverfield, whose viral existed solely to generate revenue on opening weekend and then fizzle out by the next week. (It experienced one of the highest second-week drops at the box office ever, although it was preceded by the highest January opening ever.)

So the fact that the WB made a firm decision this time to make a good movie that would please the fans than make an okay movie that would please the public is frankly one of my favorite things ever. In this Warner Bros sort of became a sparkling and beautiful production company in my eyes--they gave Nolan something like carte blanche on the one condition that Begins was good, and it was.

So my point here is that MAYBE using the money spent on this game on advertising would draw in more revenue if used for a more typical ad campaign bent on drawing on audiences that weren't already fans, but the key here is that the game adds new layers of complexity to a story that exists based on its potential for realism. It was important for Nolan (and Bale) to make a movie that people could imagine actually happening. I mean the biochemical terrorism stuff--maybe there's no Fear Toxin really, but in 2005, and now, it's not difficult to see where things like this could actually happen. Nobody has any superpowers in the Nolan version and everyone becomes who they are without falling in a vat of chemicals. Some of the technology is pretty hard to buy, but as is the way of things, you can imagine technology like that existing in the near future even if it doesn't yet. People say we can make flying cars but just don't...I mean it's fair enough to believe that the tumbler could exist, or that, you know, Batman's suit could be used for spelunking.

SO, in short, what the Yahoo idiot doesn't understand is that the game is created for fans because this franchise functions based on loyalty. What we'll probably find this game does is encourage repeat viewings and the extensive purchase of ancillary products.

It's just very natural to assume that if we've been involved in a movie for as many hard but usually enjoyable hours as we have, we're not just going to forget it the moment the credits roll. The game has turned casual fans into loyal ones and has made us ACTUALLY partake in the events leading up to the movie. It's so experiential that we'll probably enjoy the movie so much more because we contributed. It turned Gotham into a real place, where we have to do tasks for the Joker and beat each other down for bowling balls and catch dirty cops and march in political rallies. I mean, I think most of us always wanted to be part of the comic book world, and now we are actually playing in it.

And the public who isn't interested in the game doesn't HAVE to do the homework. We do the game because it's fun. We know that if we all gave up all of a sudden and went on strike (which, why would we? Most of us play it not for rewards but because we think it's incredibly fun), Warner Bros would STILL release the trailer. It's not like general audiences don't get the same stuff--they get posters and teasers and trailers just like everybody else. They don't do the work for it; we do the work for it. Most of them don't even know about us.

Anyway, I'm just very passionate about this kind of marketing, especially in this case. I think it's a very cool way to connect with fans who had been ignored for so long because studios favored the general public, and I think it's a very effective way of bringing Gotham into real space and time.

That was beautiful.

[Pirate Queen]

Indeed. I couldn't have said anything better myself.

[Gaara_Abarai]

He never mentioned the lost arg witch started a while back before both TDK and cloverfield

[mongoose-mania]

I can't stand ignorant reporters who don't do their research. Does anyone know how to contact this guy? I'd like to write to him.

[SecondChild]

I was so angered by this article, that I immediately wrote this article, stream-of-consciousness style. I plan to submit it to Yahoo News, even if only as a letter.

I wonder if some of you might proof-read and critique it before I do so?

_______

I am writing this article as a rebuttal to the article entitled "Studios' viral marketing campaigns are vexing", posted on Yahoo News on Wednesday, April 30th.

Mr. Andrew Wallenstein has written an article about viral marketing. The main thrust of the article is that viral marketing is a waste of resources for the companies developing them, and confusing to people who are not "in the know". The tone of the article is scornful, and suggests that it is some fad, having to do with "those internet kids". I do not know who you he thinks he is, but if he wants to report on viral marketing, I suggest that he do some research, instead of merely googling a few phrases and perusing two or three web sites.

Viral marketing (in the sense that we now think of it) has been around for over a decade, dating back well before Cloverfield's intentionally vague trailers and fan speculation. One may recall the marketing campaign made to promote The Blair Witch Project, or before that the brilliant ad campaign for the film 12 Monkeys, which consisted of posting the logo of the film's eponymous animal rights group, along with the tagline "The future is history" on buses, in newspapers, and just about everywhere else. People didn't know what the film was about. Mr. Wallenstein calls this "confusing". What he fails to realize is that it is exactly this air of mystery that intrigues people, and gets them into theaters. The success of The Blair Witch Project, despite being an almost no budget film, can attest to this.

I rush to ad that viral marketing is not used wholly to promote films. One might recall the "I love bees" alternate reality game, run by 42 Entertainment in order to create a buzz (pardon the pun) around the launch of Bungie Studio's video game, Halo 2. Trent Reznor employed similar techniques in the advertising campaign for his Nine Inch Nails album "Year Zero".

Mr. Wallenstein says that viral marketing feels like homework to him. That's fine; he needs not participate. But when people are drawn into these alternate realities, they quite often feel like they are taking part in the history of the film - in a sense they are - as they are helping to promote it. This is free advertising for the product, and I point this out because people don't work for free, but they do play. It's FUN! This voluntary participation in advertising may seem distasteful to Mr. Wallenstein, but it sits favorably with me, in comparison to paying top dollar for a t-shirt, emblazoned with a corporate logo.

For fans, these viral ad campaigns help alleviate impatience to see the film - or game, or album, or whatever. They help them connect with other people who would like to discuss it, and yes, they do draw people in. I, for one, would never have sat down to watch Cloverfield if it hadn't been for the enigmatic trailers and wild speculation. I sat down in the theatre half expecting to see a Godzilla movie.

This spells a handsome return on investment for companies that utilize these campaigns to promote their project. After the initial investment (a few web sites, some cryptic phone messages), they will get an exponentially increasing fan base, and anticipation for the product will go through the roof, provided that the campaign is a success, and properly tailored to the product and its demographic. News reports of participating fans winning prizes or receiving phone calls from film characters are sure to bring yet more attention.

If these campaigns are as wasteful as Mr. Wallenstein suggests, I would expect they would already have faded away. Their increasing popularity is not a mere trend for producers and executives to follow, but rather a time-tested and proven marketing tool.

This author is one consumer who doesn't mind doing a little work, in return for immersion, community, excitement, and a little fun.

[DanTheDevil]

I don't understand how people can say that the Virals are a waste of money, and that they fail to gather interest in the movie. There is no way of telling if that is true until opening day, then the bottom line will tell the story.

By the way, before the virals I was mildly interested in the release of TDK. I would have seen it because I loved BB, maybe not opening day, but eventually.

Now.... midnight showing opening day. Not increasing interest in the movie my ass.

[Agent M]

that writer needs to do some research and get a clue before spreading his ignorance on the net.

[YsoSerious]

Yahoo's movie articles to me seem like they're written by some high school journalism class. By the time you read them it's old news anyway.

[Andrizzle]

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4486633

"He is also an editor at The Hollywood Reporter, where he covers television and digital media out of Los Angeles."

Anyone else think this might be his?

http://cgi.ebay.com/Rare-DARK-KNIGHT-Batman-movie-promo-Joker-mask_W0QQitemZ180238092879QQihZ008QQcategoryZ2480Q QssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[super_bik]

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4486633

"He is also an editor at The Hollywood Reporter, where he covers television and digital media out of Los Angeles."

Anyone else think this might be his?

http://cgi.ebay.com/Rare-DARK-KNIGHT-Batman-movie-promo-Joker-mask_W0QQitemZ180238092879QQihZ008QQcategoryZ2480Q QssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Why is it that the people who don't want these things always get them?


Translation: I'm jealous and want the Joker to send me a mask.

[SpideyForPrez]

I love how we're all in agreement that the guy who wrote this is an idiot. I bet that ebay mask is his. I hope the letters people are sending in regard to this article get noticed cause the TDK ARG deserves better coverage than this. Like DantheDevil I would have for sure seen TDK eventually but now I will see it opening night and multiple times after, I will also drag family and friends to go see it with me. Not to mention that the game keeps me from reading spoilers about it cause it helps to tie me over till the release.

[Talldog]

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4486633

"He is also an editor at The Hollywood Reporter, where he covers television and digital media out of Los Angeles."

Anyone else think this might be his?

http://cgi.ebay.com/Rare-DARK-KNIGHT-Batman-movie-promo-Joker-mask_W0QQitemZ180238092879QQihZ008QQcategoryZ2480Q QssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I'd be willing to bet hard currency it's not him. The seller's name is tothebatpoles and has a 99.5% positive rating since '00. He's also selling tons of other comic memorabilia.

[Andrizzle]

I'd be willing to bet hard currency it's not him. The seller's name is tothebatpoles and has a 99.5% positive rating since '00. He's also selling tons of other comic memorabilia.

I don't know that 5 items counts as tons, but yeah, I guess it's probably not him.

[Talldog]

I was trying to imply past sales in there as well, guess it didn't come out the way I planned. But with over 400 reviews (if I remember correctly) you know he's sold a lot of swag.

[Anita18]

Haha, yeah, the writer of the article was an idiot. I see the scenario:

(Reuters) Hey Bob, write a story on this viral thing
(Bob) *looks at size of TDK Viral Wiki* Screw this, I'll click on the whysoserious site for one second and then make the rest up

lol
:lmao:

Yeah a number of people I know are overwhelmed by the whole thing. I just tell them generally what's going on, and yeah, they're interested in the big stuff and in seeing the movie overall.

(Entire long, but very kickass post)
:up:

I was so angered by this article, that I immediately wrote this article, stream-of-consciousness style. I plan to submit it to Yahoo News, even if only as a letter.

I wonder if some of you might proof-read and critique it before I do so?

I like it. :up:

This article was obviously an editorial, so the reporter can write whatever the heck he wants. It's a rant, basically. But I did think it was :whatever: that he has to rant about it, instead of letting us have our fun, you know?

I was just thinking that opening night of the film will be really sad, cause that means the ARG is essentially over. This crazy 1.5-year journey will be over. :csad:

[super_bik]

I was just thinking that opening night of the film will be really sad, cause that means the ARG is essentially over. This crazy 1.5-year journey will be over. :csad:


But then, perhaps, a new viral can begin.

[Domigirl]

Those letters sent to the editorials are amazing.

Personally, I had no interest in any of the Batman movies due to my own prejudices against comic adaptations, but I am beyond ridiculously excited for this movie due to all the marketing for it!!!! I didn't even see BB until I got involved in this viral, and my interest in TDK is getting me interested in the Killing Joke, which leads to the rest of Batman comics.
:word:Its having an overall positive effect.

[sloopy88]

Perhaps this is an appropriate place to put this, perhaps not. The Columbus Dispatch had a decent article written by Chris Lee of the LA Times on the viral at the beginning of April, and I was very impressed they were paying attention. http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/life/stories/2008/04/01/1_BATMAN_CAMPAIGN.ART_ART_04-01-08_D1_H29P0BT.html?sid=101 Just would like to give that journalist his due, even though his is probably not getting as much exposure.
BTW, Domigirl, I bought The Killing Joke because of the viral. And then I got Year One as a birthday present. So I guess I'm getting into it too.

[cinematheque]

Perhaps this is an appropriate place to put this, perhaps not. The Columbus Dispatch had a decent article written by Chris Lee of the LA Times on the viral at the beginning of April, and I was very impressed they were paying attention. http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/life/stories/2008/04/01/1_BATMAN_CAMPAIGN.ART_ART_04-01-08_D1_H29P0BT.html?sid=101 Just would like to give that journalist his due, even though his is probably not getting as much exposure.
BTW, Domigirl, I bought The Killing Joke because of the viral. And then I got Year One as a birthday present. So I guess I'm getting into it too.

Actually, that article DID show up on this board--the reason I know all of the stuff in the above was that I've done a lot of papers on the internet's role in marketing and storytelling, and that article was one of the best I ended up finding. I know it was also printed in the LA Times, and maybe...the Washington Post? Holy moly, I don't know. I saw it reprinted 2-3 times at least in major newspapers; some only had a truncated version. In all it was my favorite of the bunch because it was brilliant at summarizing the 2394823948 events of the viral in a way that could explain its appeal without becoming too daunting for the casual reader. My point here being not, "omg you're wrong! this article did too have exposure!" but it's good to see that this one was taken seriously enough to ultimately merit print in several different big newspapers.

Plus, the Hollywood Reporter is crap. I never found anything there worth reading. Variety is way better.

[Thewlis]

Goddamit this douchebag doesn't have a direct email.
Seriously though, "oh gee I actually have to use my brain for something, i mean i don't do it when i write articles so why should i do it for some newfangled picture-film"

[yskah]

oddly enough, i had a similar conversation with my boyfriend last night. i started telling him about how i'd spent my evening (when i should be studying for finals) crawling the boards for updates on the reels, and he stated he was getting slightly tired of this viral campaign.

when i asked why he said something to the effect that he felt bombarded by it, and was annoyed by its pace-acceleration.
then he made the same argument that they might spend less money with traditional advertising.

my counter-arguments were these: of course this campaign should pick up the pace now, the release of the movie is two months away. i'd be a little disappointed if they didn't pick up the pace. and honestly, i'd heard about this campaign from the beginning (or near it) with the "i believe in harvey dent too" picture but i stopped following it shortly after that because with the lull i thought that was it.

as for his money argument, i made the example of how with my own enthusiasm and description of the campaign i've piqued the curiosity of literally twelve other people. and as a fan of batman, and such a huge fan of batman begins in particular (to be honest i haven't seen the kilmer and clooney films in their entirety) i feel rewarded by this "game." also, there were so many people who didn't even bother to look at batman begins because of the travesties which preceded it. in that way alone the viral marketing campaign has the potential to re-attract previously disenfranchised fans.
one thing i hadn't taken into account, and feel somewhat silly that it didn't occur to me, is how this marketing tactic ties in perfectly with nolan's view of rebooting the franchise. i didn't make the connection that, for a director so concerned with pleasing the fans over pleasing the public, this type of marketing is perfect. it makes us feel like we are indeed citizens of gotham (and i'm so mad at myself that i didn't manage to get a voter's card, i'll never have a gotham address). i'm such an avid supporter of this type of marketing because it's given me an experience which is priceless. i've made new friends, gotten to attend an incredible event, and more than that, during the long wait between batman begins and the dark knight, i've had more to do than just twiddle my thumbs and wish the movie were out yet.

though, i do have to admit the validity of my boyfriend's argument that from a non-fan perspective, initially the idea of traditional marketing might make more economic sense. but this was before i did any of the math and tried to figure out how many people those 12 people i turned on to the film are going to tell.

[ActuallyRobin]

Well, this viral marketing is for the fans that will see it imo. I'm not surprised non-fans have issues with it but, we like it, then we tell our friends, so it works :)

[Grommers]

I could see two sides, however over all this guy is an idiot.

Yes, the viral campaign is engineered towards die hard fans, it also increases the # of die hard fans batman has. (batman begins made me a die hard batman fan).

However, when my friends asked me what I did yesterday (the day after the last viral) I told them I ran downtown in toronto working for the Joker. Now, they were like "uh huh.."
oh that sounds cool, and I told them all about it, they hadn't even seen the new batman trailer but have now seen it. Would I of just brought up the new batman movie to them had it not been for that viral? Probably not.

now there are some parts that are for the Diehard fans, such as the candoloro emails etc, that in no way people would really talk about outside to just any one regularly. As its just not practical and could come off as confusing. But its good that 42E did include some extra stuff for the people who really did digg and eat this up, it increased the amount of people following.


Not to mention the scale that this movie was done on for viral campaign, will surely be brought onto the dvd. Well, the DVD will be released to everyone, people will watch it, well, once the next batman movie comes out...you know A LOT more poeple will start to follow the viral. so in the sheer coincidence that this viral didn't make them $$, it's smart for them to bite the bullet once, and the next time around they'll have a much larger fan base which will because of the first viral, which will get even more people talking, etc, sometimes its good to take a couple of hits, if it results in you winning in the TKO.

[ali]

I was just thinking that opening night of the film will be really sad, cause that means the ARG is essentially over. This crazy 1.5-year journey will be over. :csad:

i've been thinking the same thing! all i can do is hope they do another campaign like this one for the next batmovie..

[BirdsDoThus]

First off, I followed Cloverfield from the start...it was a interesting way to pass the nights when i didn't have anything better to do. But it was more of an Alternate Reality Experiance..I never got the sense of fans "shaping" and altering the game, or of the game evolving with us. Had there not been the online extras, the movie would have been a bomb, cause NO ONE would have gone to see it. Saying all other virals are cheap copys of that makes me sad inside. lol.

Now, I have a similar story to most of you. I've always been into Batman, but never to an increadible degree. I was certainly never big enough a fan to find myself running around times square wearing crude joker makeup, but lo and behold there I was with two friends I dragged along anyway.

Not only that, but think of all the people walking around all the streets in the world last monday. 50 people asked me alone what all the madness was for. That is the sort of stuff that sits with people. When Bill gets home from work and he is sitting at the dinner table, chances are he is gunna tell Nancy and the kids about the funny thing that happened today on the way home from work. Then come July 18th, why don't they just make a family evening out of going to see that new Batman movie that they've been hearing so much about?

It isn't the comercials that is getting them to go, it's the seed that was planted way back in May, and the concept that if people are dedicated enough to run around the streets for something, it must be the sort of something that is worth at least a look see.

So that is why viral marketing is worth the money. That and because the studios know that people go to movies to escape into other worlds, and if they can help them do that a little further, and make them love what those studio guys are helping to put on the screen, then it's worth it.

[Lightning257]

I was just thinking that opening night of the film will be really sad, cause that means the ARG is essentially over. This crazy 1.5-year journey will be over. :csad:


I thought about this the other day. I know for one, I'll be suffering from withdrawl when it's all over with. I basically got into it because this particular movie is special to me since I'm an extra in it, and hopefully will make it on screen. While I've always been a Batman fan, I didn't know about the viral until I heard about SHH from another extra while I was waiting to film my scenes, and it's from SHH that I found out about the viral.

I might get involved in other virals (and will at least look at others), but they won't hold the same "closeness" that this one has, if you know what I mean.

[Parkdaledude]

The teaser trailer for TDK where all you here is talkin' is better than the whole floating turd that is Cloverfield, and the Viral for that people barely heard of, this one is so good all kinds of people know about it, my dad even heard about it and not from me.

[FromThisGirl]

Okay, I know this has nothing to do with the Yahoo! article, but this is the best place I could think to put it in. It mentions the viral marketing, it's kinda funny. http://adweek.blogs.com/adfreak/2008/05/iron-man-torche.html

[Agent M]

Okay, I know this has nothing to do with the Yahoo! article, but this is the best place I could think to put it in. It mentions the viral marketing, it's kinda funny. http://adweek.blogs.com/adfreak/2008/05/iron-man-torche.html

thats hilarious! batman is so monotone. lol
(ironman: i like the nightlife
batman:i AM the nightlife!)
i laughed several times throughout this video. priceless.:hehe:

[Andrizzle]

I know I posted earlier about the impact my participation has had on others, but I think I should also add a little something about myself.

I grew up on Batman. When I was a kid, (I'm 22 now) my family didn't have cable, so we got a handful of local channels. I grew up watching reruns of the 60's TV show, the '89 Batman movie, and Batman the animated series. I loved batman, I had all the toys and everything. Then as I grew up, batman kind of faded away, the movies got crappier and crappier, and if batman did still have a presence on TV, it was way under my radar.

Then one day as I was waiting for some movie to start they ran the trailer for Batman Begins. It came out of the clear blue for me, it didn't look like anything I had ever seen. Batman in the mountains? And there are ninjas? What? When it ended I thought to myself, "hmmm... I'll have to check that out" but no one I was with seemed too interested.

Some time later I came across Begins on a movie rental site and figured I'd give it a shot. I loved it. I thought it was hands down the best batman movie I had ever seen, and the first thing I did after the credits rolled (before watching it again) was google to see if they were making a sequel. Then I found BOF, then the virals came and I followed them closely, then I found SHH out of necessity as the game became too big for one person (and BOF) to follow.

I had never so much as picked up a comic book in my life, but as a direct result of Batman Begins and the viral campaign for TDK, I now own 8 TPBs plus TKJ and TMWL. And I've hooked a friend of mine who also was a big batman fan and who also hadn't picked up a comic book in his life by lending him a few of mine.

If it were not for the way this movie has been marketed, that wouldn't have happened. This campaign isn't just about the movie, it's about The Batman, and getting people pulled into that world.

Whatever the WB is paying 42, I'm more than sure they are getting their moneys worth.

[FromThisGirl]

thats hilarious! batman is so monotone. lol
(ironman: i like the nightlife
batman:i AM the nightlife!)
i laughed several times throughout this video. priceless.:hehe:

Me too, "Great, because the kids these days love existentialism."

"Jerk."
"Emo."

[cinematheque]

I know I posted earlier about the impact my participation has had on others, but I think I should also add a little something about myself.

I grew up on Batman. When I was a kid, (I'm 22 now) my family didn't have cable, so we got a handful of local channels. I grew up watching reruns of the 60's TV show, the '89 Batman movie, and Batman the animated series. I loved batman, I had all the toys and everything. Then as I grew up, batman kind of faded away, the movies got crappier and crappier, and if batman did still have a presence on TV, it was way under my radar.

Then one day as I was waiting for some movie to start they ran the trailer for Batman Begins. It came out of the clear blue for me, it didn't look like anything I had ever seen. Batman in the mountains? And there are ninjas? What? When it ended I thought to myself, "hmmm... I'll have to check that out" but no one I was with seemed too interested.

Some time later I came across Begins on a movie rental site and figured I'd give it a shot. I loved it. I thought it was hands down the best batman movie I had ever seen, and the first thing I did after the credits rolled (before watching it again) was google to see if they were making a sequel. Then I found BOF, then the virals came and I followed them closely, then I found SHH out of necessity as the game became too big for one person (and BOF) to follow.

I had never so much as picked up a comic book in my life, but as a direct result of Batman Begins and the viral campaign for TDK, I now own 8 TPBs plus TKJ and TMWL. And I've hooked a friend of mine who also was a big batman fan and who also hadn't picked up a comic book in his life by lending him a few of mine.

If it were not for the way this movie has been marketed, that wouldn't have happened. This campaign isn't just about the movie, it's about The Batman, and getting people pulled into that world.

Whatever the WB is paying 42, I'm more than sure they are getting their moneys worth.

This whole post is essentially the same for me, with the vague exception that I like, beat people down trying to see Begins but since I lived in the middle of nowhere and couldn't drive a stick (...did I even have a driver's license yet? Maybe...yes...no...yes! I did), I didn't get to see it till I found my way back to civilization. (It's infuriating for me to confess that I didn't see it in theaters since I'm such a movie nerd that I always considered it heinous if I didn't go see a movie I fangirled at the FIRST POSSIBLE SECOND. Bizarrely, this is a standard I only hold up to myself. Nevertheless, it means I have to explain how powerless and horrid I felt the whole summer sitting around waiting for someone to finally take me and NEVER feeling that satisfaction! I did watch Christian Bale and Christopher Nolan on Charlie Rose. I think. I only had PBS.)

But that's exactly how it went. I mean as a kid in the '90s, the Schumacher travesties weren't really as bad to me as they are now, because it's easy to impress a kid whose only requirement is that it be Batman. Also, it provided me with no END of amusement that Mr. Freeze and Gatorade Ice, the blue kind, which was new at the time, were the SAME COLOR. I thought this was hilarious.

But once I finally got old enough to realize how I had been wronged, I lost faith over time, so much so that when I heard they were making a new Batman movie, I didn't even look twice because I thought they were making a fifth Batman movie and not a first Batman movie in a new franchise. I guess by the time the previews hit I had figured out the error of my ways and the most brilliant thing was that the first time I saw the preview, I was hooked, and you couldn't even tell it was Batman for the first bit of it. I was gonna see that movie and I didn't even realize it was Batman.

But then Begins was good, blah blah blah, but yeah, then along came this. I would be lying if I didn't say that it had not always been my intention to see a midnight showing of this and scream myself silly at the end, so this game provided absolutely the only way that this movie could POSSIBLY make itself any better to me. I mean seriously, I was crying with excitement over this movie before they even started production...once I figured out the game was here it was one of the coolest things that had ever happened to me. Period. And I can guarantee that, while I will still see the movie like I planned to, I'll probably go see it extra times, ESPECIALLY if the game continues after the movie's release (The Beast did...it could happen, especially if they want to continue its promotion into the SD Comic Con). That, and yeah, I guess I'd picked up a comic before, but as a kid. I tried once, back when Begins came out, to pick up The Dark Knight Returns, but that was it. I figured that even though Batman had started in the comics, the 93459834095 other ways of getting Batman into my system were just as legit.

Nevertheless, yesterday after waiting like FOREVER to get it shipped I finally got The Killing Joke in the mail and I jumped up and down in the post office. I went from being someone who owned zero comics to being someone who had blown hundreds of dollars in birthday cash on shoes and comic books. Exclusively.

This game has worked its magic. It turned already casual or even loyal fans like us into diehard fans who live and breathe Batman. And it would be a lie to say that this game didn't pay off in many other ways. I just killed two consecutive papers because of all I know about this game, I'm always the go-to person for new Dark Knight-related information. Apart from the fact that I've gotten other people to pay more attention to The Dark Knight even if not involved in the game, what this game has really done is made a lifelong fan out of me. I mean sure, they could do something like they did in 1997 that would negate all their hard work...but would they? And even if they did...it would still make me long for and remember these good old days. Whatever happens in the future, it will ensure some level of lasting success for THIS movie, even if nothing else. I think that's all a studio could ask for in a movie.

[CloseYourEyes]

If someone could find his editor's email, we could all write emails with our views on the article. Imagine an editor receiving numerous letters about how not only did his/her reporter express an opinion that was widely criticized by those who actually know something about the subject, but that he did very poor research on a subject he was supposed to look into. I doubt anyone would be fired, but he may be more careful about truely researching something he's been assigned to.

[Agent M]

Me too, "Great, because the kids these days love existentialism."

"Jerk."
"Emo."
so istarted watching this guys other vids..they are so entertaining and funny...i'm hooked. this guy is genius...well close.

[Yoda Claus]

The problem is that this isn't Joe Blow. This is the Entertainment writer for Reuters, a respected news source. I''m sending an email to their editorial staff, and I think we should all do the same. Just remember to be polite! People start ignoring you when you throw around slander.

Or libel...if its in print :) Slander is spoken :P

[Yoda Claus]

:lmao:

Yeah a number of people I know are overwhelmed by the whole thing. I just tell them generally what's going on, and yeah, they're interested in the big stuff and in seeing the movie overall.


:up:

I totally agree. I tried telling someone how indepth this was and they looked me very awe-struck.

[Keikai]

I too suffer from the movie dork syndrome. I was obsessed with Spiderman when the first one came out, was completely enthralled when there was mention of a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles CGI movie (I mean c'mon, when you're a kid in the late 80's, you look for anything that tends to send you back to that age and that feeling you had of being 8 years old). Then this movie started production...

I wasn't overly into Batman Begins when it was first announced. I figured "Yeah yeah, blah blah, yet another Batman tragedy...I really don't care". Yet I convinced myself to watch it in theatres, and was in complete amazement. I still talk to people that haven't watched Batman Begins simply because of the scaring effect that Forever, and Batman and Robin had on them (even a few of them with Batman Returns). I keep telling them "Seriously...it's good!"

My 26th birthday is coming up on July 18th. I tell all of my friends about the crazy stuff they are doing with the viral campaign for two reasons. One, because I am trying to be subtle enough with gift ideas. But two is because I want them to understand that this is an experience. A movie is just a movie, rent it or watch it on HBO in a year after it's released. This, however, is an event all in it's own. Heath Ledger died after production (God rest his soul), a crewman died during production. Free cakes were given out with cell phones in them, bowling balls came etched with phone numbers upon them, and Jim Gordon called me on my phone saying that I was caught red handed.

Most of my discussion with friends lately is "You'll never guess what they came out with this week..." And yes, I will be incredibly sad when the game is over. Hopefully the DVD will have some sort of encyclopedia of viral games so that I can share it with people far into the future...

Or perhaps we can have something even more exciting to look forward to when Two-Face has his fun in the next Batman movie....

And maybe by then the random Yahoos (no pun intended) will be able to take notice....

This isn't just a game, and it's not just a movie...

It's Batman!