VERIZON WIRELESS SPONSORSHIP
THE DARK KNIGHT EXPERIENCE
Before the dawn of the Marvel Universe, Batman was experiencing a rebirth with the release of the Dark Knight movie. Verizon Wireless had signed up as the movie's primary sponsor and they were looking for unique and innovative ways to bring the sponsorship to life and promote their exclusive Nokia Dark Knight phone.
THE CHALLENGE
Verizon Wireless was looking to create a unique and immersive experience to help promote their sponsorship of the Dark Knight movie and exclusively branded Nokia mobile phone.
Since they were sponsoring a well established entertainment property, the brand knew it had a responsibility to the Batman fan base and overall comic/superhero community to create something authentic to the Batman franchise that could engage a broad audience while also including Easter eggs and other elements to surprise and delight super fans who live and breath Batman lore.
THE STRATEGY
We could have gone with a typical phone promotion to announce the launch of Nokia’s The Dark Knight phone. But why be so serious?
The Fight for Gotham City was a theme in the film, so it became the basis of our microsite. By asking users to choose a side in the fight, they were treated to slightly different experiences – one told from Batman’s point of view, the other from the Joker’s. If visitors couldn’t decide which side to pick, a “psychological evaluation ” determined their fate.
For extra engagement – and to increase the creepy factor – we added the ability to commit a friend to Arkham Asylum using Oddcast’s 3D mapping technology. Check out the video here.
With the support of banners, emails and even a desktop widget that counted down to opening day of the film
THE outcome
The digital campaign saw unprecedented results for Verizon, including over 60 billion impressions, 630,000+ friends committed, 13.5 million searches, 1.4 million views for the WAP site, and the highest open rate for any Oddcast campaign at the time, with 25% more time spent than the Oddcast average. The 1,600+ blog mentions weren’t too shabby, either. Of course, Verizon and Nokia were particularly happy that The Dark Knight phone outsold unbranded phones by 66% during the run of the campaign and increased VCAST video downloads by 215%.
