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VIRAL NEWS

Citizens For Batman - Live Chicago and New York Meet-Ups! Updated!

by Alex Billington
July 8, 2008

As promised, the Citizens For Batman have arranged meet-ups tonight in Chicago and New York. If you're not there (like me), they have initiated a live web feed to follow the events taking place. As far as we can tell, it is a giant rally for Batman and I have a feeling the Bat symbol will light up the night skies. You can watch the live feeds from the rallies in Chicago and New York at each respective link. It's time to rally in support of Batman! There is a live chat with text updates as well as a live video feed. Apparently police, news crews, and hundreds of fans have showed up at each location. This will definitely be a night to remember! If you want to follow the progress, head over to citizensforbatman.org now!

We'll update this at the conclusion, but until then we suggest you follow the live feeds on the website for Chicago or New York. I'm actually sitting out of a Hellboy II screening at the moment and anxious to get back inside, but I had to make sure to update this. The latest update in the chat says that the packages have been delivered and that they're awaiting the next step. The video feed shows a building - which is why we're guessing the Bat symbol will eventually light up the building soon enough. How's the for a publicity stunt? Keep following the updates on the site and we'll update this post later on! The Citizens For Batman supporters are currently spreading out in search of what we believe are clues or steps to complete this part of the viral campaign. Continue to follow the latest here!

Bat Symbol on the Building!

NYC was a huge success. We struck a huge blow for Batman and for Gotham. I'm gonna go thank everyone on the ground. When we wake up tomorrow, it's gonna be a whole different world we wake up to! The Citizens For Batman have done it! They've shown the world how powerful they are - they've projected the giant Batman symbol on buildings in New York City and Chicago! As expected, the groups on the ground eventually were able to turn on the signal and light up the skies. Take that Gotham - they've shown the world that Batman is not just a vigilante!

If you missed the event as it unfolded, you can go read the text updates in the archives as they happened for Chicago and New York still. Although this viral marketing didn't mean much to us watching from home, I'm sure it was an incredible experience to be there. And if you are in New York tonight, take a look out your window. You may find the Bat symbol on the building next to you. And that kind of real world publicity stunt definitely gives me shivers! Like it or not, this was cool!

Citizens For Batman

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Related categories: Hype, Viral News

Billy

So far, I do not find the obviously staged text comments exciting at all. This along with the fact, I am not sure if any of what this website is showing is true or not. Oh well... we'll see.
Moviegimp

This is pretty impressive. For some reason they can't get the Chicago one to work or maybe it's just a bad angle. Should be interesting to see if this makes the main stream press, local tonight and I would assume national tomorrow morning. Thanks for posting about this, it's cool.
thedarkknight

What was the point of all this? Is there going to be something special at the end?
Dusty

It looks like that was the something special... and the staged text traffic related to activities on the ground in NYC and CHI... Honestly.. the online was just to give us a taste of what happened at those sites... If you followed the story line of this viral campaign... i.e. ARG - Alternate Reality Game... you would be seeing that these are the Citizens For Batman.. supporters of Batman rallying and showing a message of support... etc. I am not that HUGE into it.. but that is the 'story' behind this activitity tonight. Pretty sure that this is the climax of this event though.. unfortunately... guess we have to wait to see what the Joker has planned for Thursday
sean

can we buy the those shirts they are wearing...? i really want one...
mike

Hey, i just got back from the NYC rally. Basically, it was just chaos. There were 200 maniacs running around in crosswalks in the middle of traffic and yelling at one another. ONE person found a clue at each area we went while hundreds of others tried to listen to what was going on from that one person. Everyone then ran in all different directions. Not to mention, they gave out, or should i say threw shirts at us from a SUV that would show up randomly, only to incite mini stampedes as we were waiting for ten o'clock to come. The best thing i thought, besides the bat symbol at the end, was the Gotham Times newspaper which was handed out. The paper was really well done with a lot of funny oddball stories in it. In closing... we're sheep i tell u, we're all just sheep! BAAAAA
sean

hey number 6 and 7, i was wondering if there was any way to get those t - shirts because i live in cali. and feel its not fair because we didnt get a chance to get those shirts!
Askie

I just got back from the Chicago rally and was really disappointed along with most of the people we walked back with. We arrived about 8:30pm and there were about 300 people there. T-shirts were being sporadically thrown into the crowd as a guy with a bullhorn ran around. they also passed out issues of The Gotham Times with a title reading "BATMAN: Savior or Menace?" A little after 9pm they started handing out a few Domino's pizza boxes that were jet black. Stapled to them were instructions on where to go next. Here's when things went to hell. Whoever the first guy was that read the instructions took off running with what had swelled to about 800 people down the street to Lower Wacker. Lower Wacker is one of our streets here that runs underneath part of the city, you can see it in the first film when the Tumbler is driving underground. Well, all these people ran down the ramp underground and brought traffic to a halt. They ran for about 4 blocks and then they realized that they had read the instructions wrong. We needed to be at 600 S. Wacker not 600 N. Wacker. So everyone ran back up the ramps and then down the street. The police cars started to show up herding people back onto the sidewalks. We walk a few blocks until the crowd stopped and saw what appeared to be the bat symbol projected onto the Sears Tower. Unfortunately the office lights were still on where it was aimed so you couldn't see anything. They did pass out some small metal pins featuring the Citizens for Batman logo, maybe about a couple hundred of those got out. The cops were really cool and didn't harass anyone except to keep people from getting hit by agitated cab drivers. We stood around for about half an hour and nothing happened. Then we noticed that a few of the marketing people just seemed to walk off, without telling anyone anything. That's about when the crowd mostly dispersed. It was very disorganized and anti-climactic. I felt bad for this one lady that drove all the way from Detroit with her kids and all they got was a pin. Hopefully everyone had a better time at the New York one.
REAL6

You said "This will definitely be a night to remember!" It was one of the worst pieces of shits i ever had to do. WE FUCKING RAN AROUND TO SEE THE BATSIGNAL????!!! fUCKING BULLSHIT!!!
Mike

I just got back from the Citizens for Batman rally in Chicago and it was very anti-climatic. Rather than having a real rally where someone was preaching support for batman or getting people to chant for the dark knight, swag (which was cool) was given out and then they delivered pizza. After which, everyone began to ran as clues that most of us never saw were given out telling us to go north or south depending on who you followed. What ensued was a mad dash through upper and lower Wacker drive, admittedly a great memory despite the end result. People were hoping barriers, jumping 10 -15 feet from upper to lower Wacker and sprinting all out for the next clue or what we hoped would be something worth our efforts. As would be expected, Chicago's finest showed up to try to control the crowd of over 200 people and eventually everyone made their way to the Sears Tower. This is where things fell apart. A message was left on a radio that someone found, or so we were told, that said to look north. Everyone did and for an hour plus everyone watched as a light flickered on and off. No one working the event would give out any information on whether or not there would be a reason to stay or if the problems would be fixed. Many disgruntled fans left before the problems were solved and the bat symbol finally came into view. Do not be fooled by the video on citizensforbatman.org of the Chicago location, as of 11:15 pm CT it did not look anywhere near as good as it does currently on the site. Maybe they fixed it even more after I left but after already waiting for an hour and half at that location as well as having run my ass off through the streets, I had given up on this poorly executed event. This viral marketing campaign has easily been one of the most enjoyable experiences I've had while preparing for the release of a movie and if things would have gone as planned tonight, it would have been cool but not great. The biggest issue was the lack of communication between the organizers and the fans. I understand not breaking the fourth wall or giving away too much but when things are not working someone needs to let people know what is going on. All that being said, the swag is great and running through the streets of "Gotham" was an exciting experience. The end result could have been better and considering that we heard New York went off without a hitch, wouldn't be nice if the real Gotham City of the film would have gotten a better effort?
Brian

Even thought nothing else happened, I was so frerakin' excited when they finally appeared on those buildings. This is so freakin' cool how they are inviting EVERYONE, that is willing, to be a part of this remarkable time in movie history! I bow down to the marketing genius or geniuses who came up with this one. Can anything get better than this? Probably not.
atg2040

i feel the same way, i was at the chicago event and was a tad disappointed. especially compared with the last viral event where we got to see the trailer a week before it was released. i left before the bat symbol was in full view, but i do agree, it was poorly executed. hopefully the joker will have something better planned for thursday!!
Viper

Does this ARG have anything to do with the movie? What I mean is, if you don't follow it will you miss references in the movie? If not, then this whole thing looks like a giant waste of time just so some people can get t-shirts, pins, stickers, etc (I mean the whole thing. Not just this event).
Moviegimp

After this was all done it seems like a interesting way to advertise the movie, that is what this was all about after all, but it didn't seem to work. Besides people who already are planning on seeing the movie and those of us who come to these sites no one outside of Chicago and NY even know about it. I base this on the fact that I can't find one story on any main stream press site, CNN, MSNBC, ABC or CBS about anything. Something this big, at least with all those people running around, should have been a least a blip on the media radar. Maybe on ET later. Is viral marketing considered a success if it just preaches to the choir?
Agent Jrb

I had fun at the Chicago one. I think its a lil snooty to come on here and bash this marketing campaign. I understand if its not your thing. but for some of us we are enjoying it and hope they do this stuff with more movies. It's interactive, better than just some trailer or pics posted on a site. I got tons of free stuff from these events that no other collectors ,but those that were there, will have. I do agree the batsignal was pretty weak on the sears tower, but that was probably not there fault. Stupid people leaving office lights on and what not was probably the reason. Can't wait to see what the joker has planned for us thursday, cause you know ill defiently be onboard for that one!
http://www.24framelove.com Dan

The event was absolutely awesome! Not exactly what i expected but just the brotherhood and camaraderie of hanging out with Batman fans was exhilarating! Go Batman!