The ARG started as the story spilled off the screen and intersected the fans daily lives, when random joker cards discovered in comic book shops led to a site tagged by the Joker. There, an activity using email revealed the very first picture of the iconic villain. The Gotham Times provided a snapshot of Gotham City over the course of the campaign, with entry points that included URLs, phone numbers, SMS, puzzles, codes and events that lead players further into the immersive experience. Giving both comic book fans and mainstream moviegoers the chance to explore the characters and themes of The Dark Knight, the ARG was punctuated with activities that “eventized” the web – like ringing cakes with baked-in cell phones, clearing Dent of vicious campaign attacks, campaigning for DA, standing up for the Batman, and helping the Joker steal a school bus for his escape from Gotham National Bank.

Thousands of touch points, including real world events in 81 cities, multiple print products, large scale projections, video, mobile, specialty items, user generated content, live streaming audio, scavenger hunts, casual online games and more, kept the film front and center in the press and blogosphere. Over 200 hours of game play organically generated 500M media impressions, 350M online hits, 2.5M Google mentions and hundreds of thousands of forums posts viewed millions of times. A 985 page wiki was created in real time by fans playing the game. Ultimately, more than 10M unique active participants in over 75 countries make “Why So Serious?” the redefinition of alternate reality games (ARG) and a new benchmark for successful immersive entertainment experiences. Their passion fuelled brand advocacy to new heights, helping The Dark Knight become the most successful movie of 2008, and the 2nd highest grossing film of all time.