unforum

[Gbutton]

Case study and other observations.

[gbutton]

For those of you who haven't check out the Dark Knight timeline here.

The first story arc spans from May 11th to May 21st.

This completes the first story arc in the Dark Knight campaign. In this arc the players are introduced to the main character, in this case the Joker. The Puppetmasters also deal with the low enrollment problems by creating a puzzle that can only be solved by having massive amounts of people submit e-mail addresses. By incorporating this e-mail hunt into a puzzle the PMs ensure that their game is spread through word of mouth, and that there are at least x number of participants before they actually start the game.

What else about this part of the campaign helped to boost its success? What, if anything, hurt it? What else was established in the limited amount of information offered?

[notgordian]

Hey! There's a decent amount of theory on ARGs in general (and even more on new media marketing efforts) that should help you along your way if you're trying to analyze its success. These are generally the resources I turn to when I'm looking for analytical information

I'd suggest you check out the following articles from academia:
Avant Game - Jane McGonigal is a former employee at 42 Entertainment, and has a lot of stuff out there. A LOT.
Christy Dena - Also, some great resources focusing on the cross-media aspects.
Reading some of Henry Jenkin's work on media convergence should also help to explain things. I'm also partial to Marshall McLuhan's "Understanding Media", but that could be me.

Regarding the timeline, you seem to be missing a few features of the beginning -- check the ARGNet article and the_bruce's wiki page for more details, but it started with the defaced Joker cards found in the comic shop and the actual, physical movie posters defaced -- that's what initially led to the IBelieveinHarveyDentToo website.

As for why the campaign worked? First, it targeted an established community through multiple access points, both situated in the real world and online. It created a low-barrier call to action that concurrently gathered information for future communication, as well as setting forth a discernable end. By spacing events periodically based on holidays, it maximized build-up while minimizing expenses without betraying the audience's expectations--the "See You in December" message communicated that waiting was necessary, so waiting until Comic-Con until the next stage wasn't unduly burdensome. Finally, it dangled the promise of exclusive updates and swag to encourage engagement, while encouraging viral marketing through fan-based exhibitions (Joker, Harvey Dent photoshoots). The first stage of the campaign didn't really have many negatives, if any at all--it existed to inform people of the project, generate interest, and collect personal data. And it did all three.

I do want to mention that the aforementioned "success" of the campaign (and the various costs) will need some metrics to back it up, and if you're planning on putting a case study together. So you'll need to hope 42 plans on releasing the information.

[Gbutton]

Thanks! This is some great stuff, I guess I'll be back once I've sorted through all of it.

[Big_Larry]

And, Gbutton, you should probably get involved in redloyola. The folks running that game are college students who will be writing up their findings in a paper. I'm hoping that they'll make said paper available to all who participated so we can compare their findings with our own experiences.