While The Dark Knight was only released this summer, it racked nearly a billion dollars, putting it as the second-highest grossing film behind Titanic. And the main reason the film succeeded as well as it did?
Hype.
News from the production leaked slowly but surely over the course of development. “Anticipated” didn’t seem to cover it — crowds of makeup-wearing clowns were being photographed in dozens of major cities more than a year before the film’s release. The San Diego Comic Con was the site of one PR stunt regarding the Joker’s mayhem, and it proved to be so popular that servers across the country couldn’t handle the demand.
Indeed, I would argue that The Dark Knight‘s success was due in part to stoking the anticipation of the fans to unbelievable heights, driving them out in droves to see the film again and again and again. Viral marketing and hidden clues worked because they piqued viewer’s interests and — most importantly — kept their minds on the product at hand.
So if a three-hour scavenger hunt spanning the 50 States gave you some teaser images… so be it. Because while the show Lost having pioneered much of this style of “alternate reality” gaming, nobody had ever thought to harness this with the sheer enthusiasm and speculation that only comics fans can muster.
And just six months later, I think Marvel is starting to follow suit.
Yes, there is speculation about a crossover between Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, and the Hulk in the upcoming Avengers film, that’s nothing new. (Although as the latter movies are released, I have no doubts that the hype will multiply exponentially.) No, I’m talking about Marvel is introducing this into their comics proper.
In the March solicitations for Secret Warriors #2, Marvel placed a strange note on the cover. Hm… curiouser and curiouser. If you click on www.agentofnothing.com and type in the password, you’re treated to preview art, free digital comics that sum up the backstory of Nick Fury’s latest commandos, as well as a message from the grizzled old spymaster himself.
And I’ll be honest — I think that if Marvel’s web team was creative about it, this could pull in all sorts of revenue, as well as to patch up tangled continuity for new readers. For example, if you’re trying to plug into Primatech Paper Company‘s secret files — something that the show Heroes did just a little too late in the first season — you could easily start off at a Mom-and-Pop store web site, complete with product placement. You could have fake advertisements, or even pop-ups en route to whatever site you’ve clicked. And I’m sure the Mighty Marvel Marketing Masterminds could think of something even smarter.
But with comics prices rising all over the place, it seems as though any form of revenue would be conducive. And what is best about this method of marketing is it not only could maintain fan loyalty if monetization could level out prices, but could in fact increase readership by bringing us into the mystery, explaining the backstory, and adding fuel to the thing we fans do best: speculate.
December 16th, 2008 at 8:00 pm
Personally, I’m more excited about the amount of creative ownership Marvel seems to be willing to give Jonathan Hickman on this title (the site looks like his design, and the series trade dress closely resembles that of his creator owned books). Hickman is, in my opinion, one of the hottest new talents in the industry and this viral stuff is a just fueling what was already an anticipatory fire for me.
December 16th, 2008 at 8:02 pm
“And the main reason the film succeeded as well as it did?”
Because it was a really, really good movie for many substantial and legitimate reasons. Hype alone is never enough… there are plenty of stories of incredibly well-marketed movies that failed simply because they were terrible.
I agree with your comments about viral marketing, however. One of the reasons it works so well (at least in my opinion) is that it’s simultaneously fun and, if there’s a puzzle to it, thought-provoking. The concept of marketing being enjoyable instead of just being stupidly patronizing is quite refreshing. Everybody wins.
No telling if Marvel’s viral marketing will work as well but it’d be cool if it did.
December 17th, 2008 at 1:58 am
Didn’t DC already do this with the Checkmate website a while back? I remember when they first introduced the Castellan into the title, and he was the new “computer guy,” and you could log in using the password CASTELLAN to some website which would let you look at background information on all the Checkmate characters and stories, as well as a handful of other DC properties.
December 17th, 2008 at 6:33 am
I don’t think viral marketing had much to do with the sheer success level of The Dark Knight. 99% of people who saw that movie would not have been familiar with any of that stuff; only ultra-keen internet folks, who could provide nowhere near that much revenue.
The only film I would suggest viral marketing properly worked for was Cloverfield, the mystery element of which (What is the monster?) meant that it spread far more rapidly, caught more interest, and even permeated to the mainstream press (I read several articles about it)
December 17th, 2008 at 9:22 am
cool! but i don’t get why comics prices are rising when they could just CHARGE THE ADVERTISERS MORE INSTEAD…
December 17th, 2008 at 9:57 am
I saw this and thought it was great. Hopefully as time goes by, more will be released with it, because currently the site isn’t too impressive. Maybe once a new solicit comes up, we’ll get a new password.
Great idea, fits with the property (which is essential for viral marketing), and a step in the right dirction.
December 17th, 2008 at 10:02 am
Guys and gals (Blogarama contributors), would it be too much to ask that you maybe proofread your articles a bit more before publishing them? Perhaps it’s just me and my old-fashioned expectations when it comes to published writing, but when I start reading an article and see:
“Because while the show Lost having pioneered much of this style of “alternate reality” gaming, nobody had ever thought to harness this with the sheer enthusiasm and speculation that only comics fans can muster.”
and
“No, I’m talking about Marvel is introducing this into their comics proper.”
within the first few paragraphs, it takes me right out of the reading experience. Neither of those two preceding “sentences” are actually sentences, as even a quick re-read of them would reveal. I know this isn’t Time magazine (substitute your own favourite professional venue in its place) but couldn’t you at least AIM HIGH in that regard?
December 17th, 2008 at 10:12 am
If this is what Marvel spends its time doing, then I understand why COSTS HAVE SOARED RECENTLY AND PRICES WERE RAISED !!!!!!!!!!!!
December 17th, 2008 at 8:28 pm
That diagram of Fury’s many and varied connections is pretty fascinating once you start following all the dotted lines around. Definitely Hickman’s work, or at the very least in his style. And I love me some Hickman, so this book has my attention.
January 17th, 2011 at 1:24 pm
You completed some good points there. I did a search on the issue and found a good number of folks will agree with your blog.