Has The Dark Knight’s ARG Set The Bar Too High? Matt, June 4, 2009July 18, 2010 Way back in 2007, the campaign for The Dark Knight launched, making participants run across San Diego to just see the logo of the film and hear some dialogue. This viral did what no recent viral has done (I’m looking at you D-9 Sony): it got people involved. It is common place for most films to have some sort of viral activity, whether it be a full on game or not, but if a studio chooses to do the former, at least try to make it fun. The Dark Knight is the golden standard of viral. Sure it can be hard, but if can create a campaign that was even half as good as the one for TDK, you did your job and you did it right. But, let’s say you create a site, and dont touch it for half a year (Once again, Sony); there is no way anything but negativity can come from that decision. But, I have to give Sony some credit, they’re trying to get the general audience in on the viral by putting advertisements on billboards and bus stops. However, can we consider this viral a success? Did we get anything from the experience? No. Did we have fun? No. Are you still interested? No. However, not every viral has to be like The Dark Knight’s to be a success; just look at Cloverfield. That campaign told us the origins of the monster and gave us backstory on the main characters. It was a succes. Why? Because it made the film more enjoyable. Which I dont see District 9’s viral doing. One of the most recent virals to be similair to Cloverfield’s viral, is Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen’s campaign, it is adding backstory to a couple supporting characters in the movie (Leo and Agent Simmons) which will ultimately add to the film. Thus making that campaign a success. Overall, I believe that The Dark Knight’s ARG has set the bar for some types of viral (The all-out ARG) and has no effect on the small ones trying to add story to the film. Also, I would like to point this out: where the hell is my free swag? I’ve followed at least 4 virals this year and nothing, the only one that actually gave something out was Star Trek’s ARG. So please, can we atleast get that convention back? DISCUSS: Has The Dark Knight set the bar too high for any virals to compete with it? Editorials Features Viral Marketing ARGCloverfieldDistrict 9The Dark Knight
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I’ve had the opportunity to talk a bit with 42 Entertainment, the company behind the TDK ARG, and it’s fascinating to hear their take on the whole viral world and how much and what exactly goes into their campaigns (which I can’t tell you about, but you get my point). I think Hollywood still doesn’t understand how big of an impact that TDK viral had on its overall record breaking box office performance. It’s hard because you can’t quantify it. And I bet the Paramount execs watching over the viral for Transformers 2 are getting the feeling that their viral will have had a similar amount of impact in the end (because it will probably make the same amount of money and they’ll say, well, our viral contributed a minor amount, just like WB thought that the viral for TDK contributed a minor amount as well).Anyway, so what all that means is that, as much as we all KNOW the TDK viral was amazing and had a great impact, no studio has ever wanted to go back to 42 and do something along those lines again. Sure we may see something like that one day (hopefully The Avengers maybe?) but until then, it’s not up to the studios, it’s up to the producers, someone out there has to SEE how much people love virals and see how much people want more TDK-like stuff, and they’ll make an effort to start something up on that level again.Also, just look at the viral for The International at Sony. That was done by 42 and it wasn’t that great. But I say that because no one cared about the movie or the story or the content. It was the same hugely elaborate worldwide kind of viral that had people out doing things and even had some swag and other unique collectibles, but no one remembers or cares about that one because it was so forgettable. It’s a matter of finding the right movie to do it with (and hell, Star Trek, Terminator, Transformers were all perfect) and then having the support behind it to actually get a viral campaign that big. I hope that some studio, some producer, someone else soon sees that potential, because I want to see another TDK-level viral, but I only want to see it if there is a movie coming up that is WORTHY of that kind of huge viral.
That was quite possibly the greatest comment Ive ever read. lolI agree with you on most points, except that terminator was good, it started great but became lackluster for the last week or so.