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VIRAL NEWS

Citizens For Batman Unite - New York and Chicago Meet-Ups!

by Alex Billington
July 7, 2008

With less than two weeks left until the theatrical release of The Dark Knight, you might have thought that the viral marketing for the film had finished. Guess again! Citizens For Batman is arranging a massive meet-up in New York and Chicago on Tuesday, July 8th. Now that Harvey Dent has been elected to District Attorney, the viral has shifted its focus to Batman himself. Citizens For Batman has really ramped up activity recently, sending packages of swag to members including myself. Now the countdown has begun! No one knows what to expect on Tuesday, but there is one thing I can guarantee you'll see - huge crowds. If you're not in New York or Chicago area, don't fear, the events will be broadcast live.

Sometimes, you have to take a stand. You have to fight for respect. You have to let the entire world know you're here.

On July 8th, nobody will be able to ignore us. Gather at the above coordinates at the appointed time, and help us take a stand in support of Batman!

If you head to CitizensForBatman.org, you'll see a countdown and two latitude and longitude coordinates, one for each city. The timer expires at 9PM in Chicago and 10PM in New York on Tuesday night. The Chicago location is at the courtyard between the two buildings on Wacker Dr between Monroe St and Adams St - see the map here. The New York location is at Thomas Paine Park at Lafayette St and Centre St - see the map here. If you're planning on attending the meet-ups at either location, groups are being coordinated via SuperHeroHype for each respective city - Chicago or New York. Let us know in the comments below if anyone you know will be heading out in support of Batman!

We're not sure what to expect, but if you're a big Batman fan or are excited for The Dark Knight, I would strongly suggest you be there. It could be anything from a rally in support of Batman, similar to the Harvey Dent rallies but with a much bigger and stronger fan presence, to a swag giveaway or otherwise. We're also guessing that this may be the "13. Gather all my fans" item from the WhySoSerious.com list. At this point the hype for the movie is so huge, that I expect to the turnout at these meet-ups to be enormous.

The website also says: "If you can't join us on the ground, we'll be providing a way for you to watch what goes down, live on this website." We'll definitely be covering this and watching the live broadcast ourselves - so stay tuned for more come Tuesday night. Defend Gotham! Defend Batman!

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Related categories: Hype, Viral News

http://movieguyreviews4u.blogspot.com Ryan

Sounds awesome. Wish I lived closer to NYC.
http://www.williammize.com William Mize

Maybe it's an age thing or a generational thing or I have better things to do thing, but this viral marketing does nothing for me. I haven't had any interest, haven't clicked on a single link, nothing. To me, it's all about what's on the screen when the lights go down, and no viral marketing can get me excited, or get me 'amped' up or 'generate buzz' to see it. It's just wasted marketing money, for the most part. Those who were interested before the marketing started, will go see it. Those who weren't, I highly doubt that any amount of inane websites or games will get them through the door. BUT I will be one of the first in line to see "The Dark Knight" when it opens, because it looks fantastic.
http://www.firstshowing.net Alex Billington

William, while you're more than welcome to ignore every last aspect of the viral marketing campaign, but it is most definitely NOT a waste of marketing money. Unless you're a professional marketing guru yourself, I don't think you (or even myself) are qualified to claim that it is or isn't worth the money that Warner Brothers has spent on it. I believe that the viral marketing for The Dark Knight is worth its cost because it empowers the fans so much. You may not be in that group, but the thousands (or maybe millions) who have become wrapped up in this campaign and have taken it upon themselves to make The Dark Knight ARG their life are the ones who are affected by it and are making it worth WB's while. I just wanted to clarify that, because marketing isn't meant to single out one group of people, it's meant to spread it across so many demographics. You're already going, so are millions more, and this is one element of many within Warner Brothers' overall marketing plan for TDK.
REAL6

SHit ill be there!!!
Agent Jrb

I was at the last chicago event and loved every minute of the event. I hope more movies do this. Yes i would see the movie without any of the viral marketing, but this just makes it so much more interactive with the fans. I will be there tomorrow night for sure!
Boo-Yah

As someone who works in advertising, I can say that for all the money that WB is pouring into promoting TDK, the viral part of it is probably the smallest portion of their expense. This type of advertising/marketing when compared to traditional forms (TV, etc) is way less expensive. It's all about generating buzz and word-of-mouth, which these events have done a great job of. The ultimate advertising platform is going to be word-of-mouth on how good this flick is, which has already started with reviews that have begun to leak. That's what will have this movie blowing away the box office in two weeks.
Tom

I think I'll go to the chicago one.
Dude

Alex... either you're being very sarcastic or your 16. Viral marketing "empowers" the fans? It's a f*cking gimmick, OK? You can't be "empowered" by something that doesn't exist. There is no Gotham. There is no Batman. And as for your claim that only a professional ad man can put a value on viral marketing, where was the viral marketing for "Star Wars" (the first one). If I'm not mistaken, that made a nice chunk of change on its own. By now there are very few people in this country, hell world, who don't know this moving is coming out. And either they're going to see it or they're not. Like Boo-Yah said, word-of-mouth is what is going to work best for this movie, not some pretend rally to "save Batman" or whatever it is. it might be fun event and you get to hang out with other fans of the movie series and talk shop. But in the end, it's just a movie. Get a grip. Oh, and at the last viral campaign thingy they used here in Chicago regarding this movie (a pretend campaign for Harvey Dent), the vast majority of people walked past them and didn't know what the hell they were talking about, nor did they care. The only end result was that the cops told them to beat it.
Kail

I might go to the New York one
Dusty

Wow Dude #9.. what a random rant... This campaign is in place for the fans... it is in place to excite and to build the story in between Batman Begins and TDK. You are right, the majority have no clue what it is .. but those that have taken the time to find out more about it, when they witnessed an event going on, have enjoyed it. One such event in Kansas City started with ~40 people and ended with over 60 going into an advanced day trailer screening in a theatre. This campaign has been played out as an ARG - Alternatve Reality Game. In this GAME, people interact as they are part of the story. It is a highly effective marketing technique to embrace your already interested consumers thus further motivating them to share that experience with others, Experiential Marketing - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Experiential_marketing So I guess, either you are too old or just too close minded to accept that different people have fun with different activities than you. Either way, movie fans have their own way of celebrating the release of a movie they are excited to see. Then again, I guess we could all just bitch about other people having that excitement and go buy our ticket and sit in a theatre to watch the movie. But for the fans seated by you that have their faces painted or wearing Harvey Dent buttons, I sincerely hope they beat your ass for berating something that they have truly enjoyed from the beginning f the campaign over a year ago.
IronMan83

I'll definitely be at the New York one
Rena

Hey how Does one Sign up? Or Is it ok to just show up?
IronMan83

I think we just show up. There's no link saying that we have to sign up for anything
Rena

the meeting times...is it 9 pm for Chicago and 10 pm for new york?
IronMan83

Yea and the locations are linked above in the article
Brian

This has been a campaign like no other in the History of film, and I honestly do not think anyone could or should try to top it, because it most likely will blow up in their face (whomever would try it). The viral marketing for this film has been as brilliant as, I would guess, even what Warner Bros. could have really imagined. Any of you who don't think so, look at the HISTORY it's making JUST in PRE-SALES!!!!!! They really didn't need to do it since Heath's death. (Sad to say) But they went to the extreme to make it a huge FAN experience. I, for one, will never forget it and I will tell everyone about this after it's all over for years to come. Brilliant. (By the way, I am not lucky enough to be in either of those cities, but I will watch it online!)
StamasterArson

@ 10 "But for the fans seated by you that have their faces painted or wearing Harvey Dent buttons, I sincerely hope they beat your ass for berating something that they have truly enjoyed from the beginning f the campaign over a year ago." Holy shit dude, you need to relax. You hope someone gets their ass beat because they don't like the marketing of a certain film? I mean, you are fucked in the head. And besides, there's a flaw in you proposed scenario; Everyone knows that people who would actually paint their face for a comic book movie probably couldn't kick any ass to begin with.
Dusty

hmm ok... I just having a little fun... just placing the same ridiculous slant that the other poster had... he was berating Alex for supporting the campaign, and I was returning the favor cause he didn't like it... then again, I could have personally attacked him and called him Fucked in the head... oh but wait.. nope that was your line. Although... I LOVE your last statement in your comment... tru tru to that... except that big Mofo that was painted all jacked up at one of the KC events.
http://movieguyreviews4u.blogspot.com Ryan

Alex, while I am not sure the message is being spread around to a large group of people like a commercial, but I would say this is probably DIRT CHEAP. A website compared to a TV ad? Some cell-phones and pizza tie-ins? This is a cool way of marketing and a CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP way for the studios too.
Tony

Geez. . . for the naysayers (for lack of a better term). . . Don't you remember when you were a child and the "New Saturday Morning Cartoons" were coming out for the season? Don't you remember the feeling of anxiety; can't wait till Saturday to see the new cartoons? There are pre-teens and teens out there who still enjoy this same feeling. Guess what? they should enjoy this feeling as long as they can because once you lose this last hold on youth, it's all CNN and CSPAN for you.
Nick Kimmons

i guess nobody noticed that the talons on batman's gauntlet on the logo are on the wrong side... for a group of people so dedicated to the cause of batman, they should have gotten it right.
Tony

Well... that was kinda cool..... Got to Thomas Paine park at about 7pm; only 20 or so people there.... at about 8pm a few marketing people started handing out really cool T-shirts, stickers, Gotham Newspapers and Keychains to a frenzied crowd of about 300; then a couple of guys showed up randomly in scant Batman attire; fitting to say the least.... Then about 9:45 with about 600 people waiting anxiously for something to "happen" some guy shows up with stacks of Domino's pizza. The frenzied crowd grab and paw at the pizza and simultaneously people react to the shouts of "South of the Food Court!" and start heading south from Thomas Paine park past the Brooklyn Bridge, almost past Pace University. An entire group of people, say about 100 start really sprinting down broadway all the way down to Maiden Lane!!! that's about six blocks south of where the action was. As it turns out, someone knew to gather at the Fountain in City Hall park.... THEN someone gets a phone call and shouts out "LOOK TO THE WEST" Now everyone is looking in all directions because most of the people are from out of town and don't know which direction is which. I shout WEST IS THAT WAY... (Pointing in the direction of the Woolworth Builing (225 Broadway). AND THERE IT IS...!!!! The Bat Signal GIGANTIC on the side of the Building!!!! Uh! Is that it? No!!! Then everyone starts following this strange looking bespectacled guy holding an Attache case.... following closely, stuck like glue; hot sweating panting looking for more.... DOWN, DOWN, DOWN, INTO THE SUBWAY HE GOES!!!! I'm like... No Effin way am I going down into the subway where I know damn well it will be like 95 degrees.. mind you everybody is already soaken wet from sweat. But down I go (for the sake of my teen son) and we're all like jumping the turnstiles and traveling down the escalators onto the platforms TO FIND !!!!!!!! nothing..... that's all folks.... nothing.... I can't say it wasn't an adventure... It was fun.
Tony

I will add that everyone behaved better than I thought..... and I must admit that the marketing team could have done so much more with this event.... At the very least, they should have ended the entire event with like a 7 foot muscular guy dressed in a quality Batman suit standing (or crouching) on one of the ledges of the many buildings. Out of reach of any physical harm but under a swarm of spotlights.... Everybody would have been so much more appreciative. He wouldn't have had to do anything but just stand there for like 10 minutes, just glaring over the night cityscape. All of the fans that drove 2- 3 4 hours would have loved it.
http://www.myspace.com/jandoisking Mike Jando

I went to the Chicago event, it was a lot of fun! There were at least 500 people there, and it became like a scavenger hunt. I ended up getting the CV radio which was the last clue. There were instructions to say "Miniopterus." Which apparently is some sort of genus of Bat. Its pretty cool!