The Secret Behind 'The Dark Knight' Viral Campaign: How 42 Entertainment Brought...

The Secret Behind 'The Dark Knight' Viral Campaign: How 42 Entertainment
Brought Gotham City to Life
Creators Susan Bonds and Alex Lieu Available for Commentary on Immersive
Entertainment Experiences

LOS ANGELES, July 28 /PRNewswire/ --
WHAT: 42 Entertainment (www.42entertainment.com), the award-winning
immersive entertainment agency, has just completed an extensive alternate
reality game (ARG) to promote the next installment in the Batman series, 'The
Dark Knight'. This experience played out across off/on-line platforms and
attracted fans from over 70 countries.
WHO: 42 Entertainment is the leader at creating and producing the world's
best participatory and cross-platform entertainment experiences.
Susan Bonds, Chief Executive Officer, has built a successful career
producing and designing innovative storytelling products across various
platforms.
"Our goal was to tell the story of what was happening in Gotham City
between the end of 'Batman Begins' and the beginning of 'The Dark Knight',"
said Bonds. "It struck a chord with a broad audience and the results have been
fantastic."
HOW: The 42 Entertainment team was tasked to create a fictional Gotham
City, invite Batman fans to become a part of it, but also extend the reach to
the broader movie going public, especially women and non-comic book fans.
Highlights included:
-- A live scavenger hunt at Comic-Con 2007.
-- In December 2007, fans picked up cakes with cell phones inside at
bakeries in over 20 cities. The joker used these phones to communicate
instructions to his fans.
-- Campaigning for Harvey Dent for Gotham's District Attorney in 33
cities around the country, eventually clearing him of a high-profile smear
campaign.
-- Gotham City was built out through in-fiction media outlets like "The
Gotham Times" and Gotham Cable News, as well as over 40 websites, including
the Joker's www.whysoserious.com
WHEN: Launched in May 2007, 'The Dark Knight' ARG played out over 15
months with millions of players participating online and attending live
events, and reaching hundreds of millions through internet buzz and exposure.
"The goal was to extend the epic themes of the film beyond the screen and
into people's everyday lives," said Alex Lieu, Chief Creative Officer. "We
gave people a chance to become a Gotham citizen and the response was
overwhelming."
ABOUT 42 ENTERTAINMENT:
42 Entertainment (www.42entertainment.com) recently won the Cyber Grand
Prix award at the International Advertising Festival for their similarly
immersive ARG to launch the Nine Inch Nails album 'Year Zero'. Located in
Pasadena, CA, the agency is responsible for some of the most innovative
participatory entertainment experiences on the web.
SOURCE 42 Entertainment

Samantha DiGennaro, sam@digennarony.com, or Mary-Elisabeth Ghanem,
maryliz@digennarony.com, +1-212-966-9525 both of DiGennaro Communications for
42 Entertainment