Ad Hawk has been following this one for quite some time now. It’s kind of everywhere and hard to ignore. . .but in a good way. Its viral marketing is sprawling and unprecedented. Its lead roles have already become legendary. Its IMAX camera work, a cinematic first. Its early reviews tout it as a dazzling spectacle and a flawless masterpiece. All things considered and more, The Dark Knight has so much going for it that all the ads in NYC just hammer down the fact that this movie is the biggest contribution to summertime since Shark-Repellent Bat-Spray. Sure, summer movies are likely to disappoint and maybe Batman will nuke the fridge, but with less than 5 days before this movie blows up box offices nationwide, the print ads for The Dark Knight not only support the avid hype with confidence, but the ads are extremely bad ass.
The Dark Knights viral marketing efforts, orchestrated through sites like WhySoSerious.com and CitizensForBatman.org have and have not reached the NYC masses. It doesn’t just depend if you’re a fan or not, many people who aren’t fans have unintentionally stumbled upon The Dark Knights viral marketing just by going about their daily lives. Meetings in Herald Square for a 2-day long scavenger hunt gifting a Joker-defiled movie trailer of actual cellulite. A rally in Union Square supporting Harvey Dent to be elected Gotham City’s District Attorney (“I Believe in Harvey Dent” shirts and pins are EVERYWHERE). Domino’s Pizza posing as “Gotham City Pizza” delivering crazy goodies to Manhattan and some of its boroughs. 
Recently in the financial district, kids ran amok finding notes and walkie talkies to decipher locations in which to prompt a bat signal (right, seen from the Brooklyn Bridge). Publicity stunts, definitely, but damn fun as well.
Keeping in step with Ad Hawks print ad focus, The Dark Knights viral marketing gifted many posters and ads to promote the movie. This publicity was aimed towards the fans more than the general public, which is a great place to start considering the movies existing—and massive—fan base. Brilliant. Fans will obviously froth for a movie longer and in return will share and spread the buzz. These ads weren’t omnipresent and instead served more as a “Coming Soon” ad in which to promote the filmand primarily draw attention to The Dark Knights viral marketing. (Though, it would’ve been great to see some of these ads posted across the city & would love to hear if anyone’s seen them) 
Luckily for the whysoserious-ly unaware, there are 2 alternate ad campaigns in which to drive excitement for The Dark Knight. Both are extremely intense and serve as seemingly valid indicators as to what the movie will contain. One stark ad (below) features the 3 key characters eclipsing half their visage with instruments that define their public identities: 
By displaying each character obscuring their identities behind their motivations, this ad intelligently alludes to the movies themes of duality and cause-and-effect. This specific print ad doesn’t bother with flashiness and is for the most part very straight-forward. So much that the public is likely to dismiss the concept of a hidden theme behind a convenient character introduction. When analyzing this ad—even if you’ve forgotten that this movie is helmed by a talented and capable cast and crew—it’s apparent that you are dealing with an intelligent movie and not a misleading summer popcorn fluff-flick.
And then you’ve got the primary ad campaign. Each ad littered with flying debris, sparks, utter chaos, drastically angled buildings, and each ad unifying themselves with a hue of blue and grey that looks like a storm’s a-brewin. These ads don’t give away as much plot information that most superhero movie posters would. There aren’t any bold statements that predictably sum up the reoccurring theme (often moral) within the movie. Great advertisement comes with great responsibility. “Welcome to a world without rules” is as in-depth as it gets and only on one poster (below), but this doesn’t give away anything we don’t know or couldn’t predict. Its just a statement to ensure viewers that all hell has broken loose in Gotham City and all the exciting chaos is waiting for you as of July 18th.
The ferocity contained within these ads are blunt, if not obvious, but it succeeds in triggering anticipation and excitement. A worms eye view of Batman, fists clenched, as the contours of the bat insignia burns a cataclysmic hole into a building. (above ad, which has been interpreted by some as pro-terrorism) The Joker standing, shoulders arched and psychotic, in the middle of the street as rubble flies every which way. Batman crashing out of a high rise window in a crazy first-person-bat-bike. There can be no doubt whatsoever that these posters are extremely successful with their obvious severity and the ability to accelerate the fanaticism surrounding The Dark Knights release. As exciting as this is, this isn’t just a taste of things to come, not even an appetizer, these ads are merely just the invitation.
The ads are designed with care, tight and professional. Everyone knows that print ads are retouched and heavily produced and that these ads for The Dark Knight are no different except that these ads do it with skill, finesse even. There is creative genius behind every one of these ads which supercharge the viewer for this movie. It’s heavy handed in that there’s obviously a lot going on, but it’s not an unintelligible mess, poorly laid out, or jarring to look at. Little flairs like the casual color choice used to highlight the attractive cast but doesn’t compete with the main focus. The ads featuring the Joker demand the most attention and are almost hypnotic as they confront the viewer with a fiery, seething stare. In some Joker ads, all the opaque “Ha Ha’s” layered on top of a diagonal composition help to dizzy the image and give it a vertigo-like motion, as if spiraling. Onlookers can’t help but to be directly linked to the buzz surrounding Ledgers performance since his Joker draws viewers in with the menacing leer of an absolute psychopath. These ads also help to sell the Joker as a plausible character and more than ever distances this franchise away from the Burton-Batman past. These ads are methodical, far from sloppy, and superbly designed and executed. There can be no doubt that these ads are a successful hit as well as a primary influence to drive hordes of New Yorkers to see theatres for The Dark Knight all summer long.
2 Comments
July 22, 2008 at 9:11 pm
kudos to the makers Dark Knight for their record breaking opening weekend… it’s no wonder there’s talk of another one coming out ASAP
August 17, 2008 at 11:11 am
I gotta see this movie.If it’s half as good as the hype it’ll be killer.I’ve watched all the previews and it has an erie feel.Just the bat dropping off that building is worth the price of admission alone.