So, yesterday evening the Why So Serious viral marketing campaign that we have been participating in as of late came to its conclusion by unveiling The Dark Knight teaser poster.

This post is a catch-up entry to fill in the gaps between the “step right up” challenge and the release of the poster. My last post revealed a number of scary cuddly toys with locations pinned to their bellies, at each of these locations was a bakery with a cake, inside of which was an evidence bag containing a phone, a joker card and a note. When each cake was grabbed, the bear was removed and we all came one step closer to hitting the bell.

Here are some more pictures of the cakes via our friends at Hollywood Chicago:

When all of these cakes were discovered, hitting the bell won the prize… and clicking through lead you to an evidence page with two joker cards:

Each of the cards is a link, the left card takes you to the poster page, which we have all seen by now. The right takes you to a sign up page for what looks to be some preview screenings in IMAX cinemas across the country - the prologue perhaps?

And here’s a picture of the ticket via Hollywood Chicago:

Update: Batsean has been to the bakery to get his cake…

The note says:

“Wow, you really took the cake! Now, put the icing on it: call (phone number) immediately from this phone and THIS PHONE ONLY. Do NOT give this phone number to anyone else.

Let’s hope your fellow goons come through as well as you. Once all the layers are in place, you’ll all get your just desserts. I’m a man of my word“

Step Right Up

The countdown on the latest why so serious viral marketing puzzle has come to an end, and revealed the final challenge.

www.whysoserious.com/steprightup/

Hanging from the stall in front of you are, as of now, 6 cuddly toys, although not at all cute. Each of them has a location pinned on, a location that, by instruction, you must travel to and not call.

The instructions also ask you to go under the name “Robin Banks” (aka Robbing Banks) at each of these places, with “One per location, first come, first served”. It seems that each of these is a bakery store, with the prize being somesort of bakery delight with an attached phone number. Some of the bears are already starting to disappear, and with each new discovery the mallet on the left hits a little harder.

Hitting the base of the machine used to invoke a pathetically small rise of the weight, not even enough to light the first level.

EDIT: Challenge unveiled.

Via Hollywood Chicago:

humanresources@whysoserious.com has sent out a new WhySoSerious.com
message and code for “The Dark Knight” viral marketing:

Heads up, clown! Tomorrow means that there’s one last shifty step left in the interview process: Arwoeufgryo

By moving each letter one to the right on a QWERTY keyboard, the word “steprightup” is spelled.

This led to a new WhySoSerious.com page at the URL www.whysoserious.com/steprightup with a countdown to 12 p.m. EST on Dec. 4 along with a stuffed monkey with an exposed stomach.

These promotional pictures come via Uruloki which is getting pretty hammered at the moment. After all that viral marketing we get something truly rewarding via something completely unrelated… not sure if these promo pics were leaked early or not, though they come at a time when lots of publications are getting their Joker fix on. These are spreading like wildfire, as fast as those other controversially leaked screen cap images we briefly saw a few months back.

Without further adieu, here are Batman and The Joker, posing beautifully for you:

EDIT: Sorry folks, looks like the images are being pulled down! Hence they are gone from here too.

EDIT: The feed is now up (password and login details below), with a two minute audio clip from inside Betty’s Pie House. This is a must listen.

As we turn the corner into the cold and bitter December the night was once again a flurry of Dark Knight viral puzzles.

First up, solving the perfect getaway. Given the combined map of Gotham City from all the viral websites, and using a connect the dots method, a message stating “Out of Time” was spelled out across the map, this led to the new Why So Serious page:

www.whysoserious.com/outoftime/

“My Kind of Clown! You’re obviously center ring material, unlike some poor goons who can’t complete one simple task. Watch the funny papers in a few days for your final step in the process

The name on the tag is Alder Frederick, with a date of death 30th November, caused by Asphyxia.(www.whysoserious.com/outoftime/alder.htm)

A GPDiad email was also discovered, glenn.barhyte@gpdiad.com, which spewed out some interesting responses to queries about document LC6551. As a result this login form was discovered,

GPD Login Form. For which you can use the name and password:

Name: BreitupKarl
Password: 21485

Logging in and doing a file search for LC6551 yeilds the document,
Document LC6551, it is titled “Upswing in Extortions and Chechen Gang Activity”.

Some of the email responses from Glenn included:

“With all due respect, like I’ve told your friends, I just can’t discuss
LC6551, or IA8214299 for that matter. I don’t know who’s leaking
these, but that doesn’t change the fact that I’m just not at liberty to
discuss sensitive information.

Glenn”

“[Karl Breitup] will meet someone at Betty’s Pie Shop tomorrow. I can give you more information, but you will need to cooperate with me for that.”

To access the second referenced document you need a login with higher authority, this is Glenn Barhyte’s account:

Name: BarhyteGlenn
Password: tevredenheid (satisfaction in dutch, given via the clues for his favourite song by the Rolling Stones and in combination with the file stating he lived in Utrecht for 9 years - see The Gotham Times)

IA8214299 is a clearance request discussing the surveillance of Betty’s House of Pies - six officers, no uniforms, listening van, equipment for recording.

Further details of this stakeout can be found in a memo (memo.jpg)

Most importantly, 15:00 Betty’s Pie Shop. Using Glenn’s login details a live audio feed will be played here. Get your recording equipment ready. (direct link to flash)