While it’s true that art ultimately has to speak for itself, it is also true that marketing plays a big part in whether a project succeeds or fails. This is especially true when it comes to movies as, at any given time, there is quite a bit of competition for a viewer’s attention — and box office dollar. But while marketing a critical component of a film’s success, there are some marketing campaigns that go beyond the tried-and-true elements of trailers, teasers, posters, and social media to capture buzz and anticipation. Some films take things beyond the traditional to reach a wider audience, creating immersive worlds and sparking viral campaigns to draw the public in well before the film hits theaters. While these kinds of efforts are themselves growing more and more common there is one film whose viral marketing campaign set the gold standard nearly 20 years ago — and will never be beaten.
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Released in 2008, The Dark Knight was the eagerly anticipated follow up to Christopher Nolan’s critical and financially successful Batman Begins. For Nolan, The Dark Knight was a bit of a risk. The filmmaker had never done a sequel before and hadn’t initially considered a second Batman film. Once the film was in motion, however, there was a lot riding on it — particularly following early criticism of Heath Ledger’s casting as the Joker. With Ledger being the first actor to take on the role following Jack Nicholson’s iconic turn in 1989’s Batman, there were plenty of skeptics, both in terms of fans and critics alike. To counter the negative reactions — and to control the reveal of Ledger in character as the villain — one of the most extensive and most iconic viral marketing campaigns to date was undertaken.
What does Nine Inch Nails have to do with The Dark Knight? More than you think.
One of the most interesting things about The Dark Knight’s viral marketing campaign might be its origins: a surprising connection to the band Nine Inch Nails. Before we get into the movie’s campaign, we first need to look back to Nine Inch Nails’ 2007 album Year Zero. The concept album was supported by an elaborate alternate reality game (ARG) from 42 Entertainment. The game followed the then-near future dystopian version of the United States. In the story, the United States undergoes a massive ideological takeover in the wake of terrorist attacks leading to the country being run by a Christian fundamentalist theocracy with the government maintaining strict control over the populace via increased surveillance and secret drugging of the tap water. In the game, websites “from the future” were sent back to 2007 from the resistance to warn Americans of their impending dystopian future in the hope of preventing it from ever coming to pass. The game included websites, phone numbers, emails, videos, music files, and more that took the story well beyond the album, encouraging fans to participate and use each new piece of information to unlock the next. The campaign was so interesting that it ended up getting media coverage which, in turn, Christopher and Jonathan Nolan saw, prompting them to reach out to 42 Entertainment to see if they could do something similar for The Dark Knight. And thus, a groundbreaking viral marketing campaign began.
[RELATED: Scenes From The Dark Knight: Anthony Michael Hall Shares Heath Ledger, Christopher Nolan Set Stories on Film’s 16th Anniversary]
“I Believe in Harvey Dent” and “Why So Serious?” were just the beginning.
For The Dark Knight’s campaign, 42 Entertainment kicked off this ARG in May 2007 with campaign posters for Harvey Dent bearing the phrase “I Believe in Harvey Dent” as well as hid Joker playing cards with the phrase in comic book stores — including in comics and graphic novels as well as just physically in stores themselves — all around the United States. The cards directed people to a website where, upon submitting their email addresses, they got a pixel of an image. Nearly 100,000 people submitted email addresses to reveal the image, which turned out to be the first official look at Ledger’s Joker. At San Diego Comic-Con, 11,000 one-dollar bills were modified to contain the Joker’s image and the “Why So Serious?” phrase and, in turn, led those who found them to a location where they participated in Joker-adjacent activities and this was just the beginning.
Over the course of the ARG, participants even recovered Nokia cellphones from cakes and unlocked an early screening of the now-iconic opening bank heist from The Dark Knight. The screening of that scene led to positive reception of Ledger in the Joker role, successfully shifting public perception of the casting and ultimately changing the discourse around the film. Even after Ledger’s tragic death in January 2008 before the film’s debut, the campaign continued, now focusing on Harvey Dent instead as though it were a real political campaign. Ultimately, the overall marketing campaign reached its pinnacle with a real-life Bat-Signal lit up at night in two cities — Chicago and New York — that players had to work together to figure out how to activate it. Then they were defaced by the Joker with the game concluding just in time for the film’s release.
What made The Dark Knight ARG work so well?
Ultimately, the marketing campaign was very successful. Not only did public perception of Ledger’s casting as the Joker shift favorably before the actor’s untimely death and ahead of getting to see his actual performance when the film released, but the film became a massive box office success. While The Dark Knight was expected to do well at the box office generally, it exceeded expectations, breaking Spider-Man 3’s opening day and single day record. The Dark Knight ended up being the first superhero film to gross more than $1 billion at the box office, too, and no doubt some of that success can be attributed to the marketing.
But what made the ARG marketing work so well? It largely comes down to the interactivity of the campaign. The ARG actively encouraged fans to participate by treating them like they weren’t just playing a game or hunting for clues and Easter eggs but instead treated them like they were actually participating in the story. The campaign put a priority on fan events that in turn were connected to the release of promotional materials. The participants were, generally, given real skin in the game. There was risk and reward complete with a sense of reality — particularly when it came to the Harvey Dent campaign which even featured a “real” election that Harvey Dent might not win.
By directly incorporating the fans, The Dark Knight’s viral marketing campaign made things personal. While other movies have had viral campaigns that generate buzz — think Toy Story 3’s fake Lots-O’Hugin Bear commercial, Barbie leaning into pop culture, and even more recently films leaning into the power of social media (particularly TikTok) to promote — there’s been nothing quite like The Dark Knight’s ARG. And we may never see something quite like it again.
The Dark Knight is available to rent on Amazon Prime Video.
