A collections of works that helped define social advertising for the industry.
“Why So Serious?”, a 360 alternate reality experience, played out live over 15 months leading up to the release of The Dark Knight. Centered on the web, yet branching out over email, mobile, snail mail, flash mobs, scavenger hunts, casual games, collaborative narratives, streaming video and more, the audience was immersed into the saga of Gotham City from the last frame of Batman Begins to the opening scene of The Dark Knight.
Thousands of touch points kept the film front and center in the press and blogosphere. More than 10M unique 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, helping The Dark Knight become the most successful movie of 2008, and the 2nd highest grossing film of all time.
On February 10th, 2007, 42 Entertainment and Nine Inch Nails launched the ambitious Year Zero project, a work of cross-media art involving websites, emails, phone calls, album packaging, tour t-shirts, thumb drives, murals and live events with the songs of Year Zero at their core. Playing out over 12 weeks leading up to the album release, Year Zero is arguably the most complete and compelling web-based piece of art yet created. Year Zero became an internet phenomenon as well as a dynamic album, changing the way people think about the future—and the way they act today. The ARG allowed Year Zero to become more than just an album you listen to, but a place where you live.
“(Year Zero) unlocks the rusty cages of the music industry and solves some key problems facing rock music as its cultural dominance dissolves into dust.” LA Times
The first global trans-media puzzle game to celebrate the release of Windows Vista and reward the most enthusiastic, tech savvy consumers with an immersive entertainment challenge. The interactive game spanned four weeks as players worked together to decipher embedded clues in spectacular real world events and solve puzzles online to win a trip to outer space.
Players found cryptic clues written in the skies, on architectural projections that transformed world landmarks, and coded in a unique fireworks show - clues that were captured in real time through video and photos before they reached “the vanishing point.” The events took place in 12 major cities around the US, Australia, Canada, England, Germany, and Singapore. Online communities of players worked together to solve the puzzles, and created resources such as forums, wikis, online hints and even web-radio stations that broadcasted in real-time during the live events.
A personal highlight, getting Walmart to let us use explosions and guns in a commercial. Also a track from Trent Reznor as the score.