Get Inspired By “The Batman” Marketing + Design Tips
Are you a Marvel fan or a DC fan? Whatever your answer it’s hard to deny that superhero movies changed the movie industry when they started bringing beloved comic books to life.
They brought a new genre to the forefront and gave a new experience to cinema enthusiasts.
But they did something more too. They changed the way movies were marketed. What you see now – merchandise releasing, fan interactions, and creating experiences based on the movies – these all really took off with superhero movies.
So irrespective of whether you are a Marvel fan or a DC fan, you have to acknowledge the revolution these companies brought about.
While everyone speaks a lot about Marvel as they have a higher movie count, you must know that the DC fandom is extremely loyal too. Even if one movie comes every four years, they wait and celebrate it like nothing before.
And this is why every Batman movie release comes with a huge round of marketing campaigns and innovative strategies to engage audiences.
These campaigns are also a lesson for any brand looking to perk up its customer engagement.
In this blog by Kimp, we take a look at some of the most popular marketing campaigns for the recent “The Batman” movie for inspiration.
Let’s get started.
“The Batman” movie – What makes it so special?
There have been many Batman movies till now. After many crossovers, ensemble movies, and a gritty dark trilogy that kept the DC fandom base alive, 2022 will see a new Batman movie after ten years. And this movie has to follow the most acclaimed and fan-favorite trilogy of all time. In fact, many consider Nolan’s Batman as the best and the Dark Knight to be the best Batman movie of all time.
Now, those are some tough shoes to fill!
So it’s no wonder the new cast and crew are leaving no stones unturned in generating buzz about the new movie. Not to mention, the movie faced many challenges and setbacks because of the Pandemic.
The Batman released in theaters worldwide on March 4th, and its marketing campaigns have made the fan base impatient for the movie. All this in spite of giving away very little about the new movie.
From a brand or marketer’s perspective, we are sure you can appreciate how amazing this is. Rekindling the fire in a product after ten years and snagging the attention of the people who grew up with it is a huge challenge. But nostalgia is a very powerful marketing tool.
So how did “The Batman” marketing manage all this? And what are the takeaways for a brand or marketing team here?
We were as intrigued as you, so here is the deep dive.
“The Batman” Marketing: Lessons + Design Tips
Movie promotions have become quite mainstream. The poster releases, the production house drops a trailer, and then the cast goes on talk shows and other press events talking about the movie. The last few years have also seen social media challenges and trends getting into this mix.
But there is something different about The Batman promotions. And that is because they have stayed true to the DC brand. DC has always had a mature, mysterious, and dark personality and the current marketing campaigns stick to that perfectly.
So what are some of these unique campaigns? Keep scrolling to find out.
1. Batmobile in Singapore
Even if you are not a Batman enthusiast, you will know the three most important markers of the crusader’s identity – the Bat-signal, the mask, and the Batmobile. The last one was an exquisite display of Batman’s tech prowess and his love for high-tech engineering. Every fan wanted to drive one at least once.
Playing on nostalgia and employing one of the oldest formats in advertising, the Warner Bros team launched 100 batmobiles in Singapore. These cars have vehicle wrap designs advertising the movie’s release and are being used to spread awareness across the country.
Batman is one of the biggest theatrical releases of the year, so Warner Bros is going all out and releasing a large-scale campaign across Singapore, confirms Diane Chan, marketing director at Warner Bros Singapore.
Marketing lessons and Takeaways:
- Do not discount the power of OOH advertising (i.e. out of home advertising) like car wrap designs. This is the fastest way to generate buzz via word of mouth online and offline.
- If you are re-launching a product after a long time, acknowledge the connection customers have with the first edition and integrate it into your campaign. Here, “The Batman” team has used the nostalgic reference to the Batmobile, but the posters are for the current movie. Win-win!
Kimp Tip: If you plan to launch print and OOH campaigns, ensure that your design team works with a print-friendly color scheme and design. It will be much easier to achieve branding consistency this way.
Looking for a team to design print-friendly and omnichannel-worthy campaigns for you? Try a Kimp Graphics + Video unlimited design subscription.
2. YouTube Ads
If you were promoting a much-awaited movie, where would you release the movie’s trailer and promo clips to generate excitement? YouTube, Instagram, and so on, yes? Maybe TikTok or Snapchat, if you are feeling adventurous? Well, “The Batman” team went completely against the grain and released one of those pre-roll ads you see before the main video plays on YouTube.
Yes, they released their first clip from the movie in a place no one will think to look for it.
By doing this, they sent the fandom into a frenzy and made them root around YouTube, creating a ton of attention online across various social media platforms. While the fandom claims the scene, in itself, is uneventful, the marketing team hit a masterstroke. They got everyone talking in the most unexpected way possible.
And they eventually did upload the clip directly to YouTube, racking up over 12 Million views to date:
Marketing lessons and Takeaways:
- Content distribution is as significant as content creation. So make sure you have a plan to distribute your well-designed content to get the most out of it!
- Experimentation is a way of life in the marketing world, so go out and be bold.
- Last but not least, this has proved that if your video catches the audience’s attention in the first five seconds, pre-roll ads can generate leads and revenue for you.
Kimp Tip: YouTube ads are tricky to design. In most cases, a brand’s product does not have a strong fandom or recall value like Batman enjoys. So, ensure the first five seconds are absolutely on point with intro cards, editing techniques, and storytelling design.
Do you want to amp up your product videos to make them unskippable in YouTube ads? Try a Kimp Video subscription!
3. Clues on Signage and Posters
We have already seen that the Warner Bros team has decided to go all-in with OOH advertising before the movie’s release. Right from bus shelters to movie theaters, they are everywhere. But, there is something extra special about some of the promotional signage and posters that “The Batman” team has had installed in some places.
For starters, many of the standees and posters had hidden codes and messages that took the audience to a secret website with nothing but a coded message again. Talk about building up intrigue!
This motivated the fandom to go exploring to find posters as well. One of them actually went with a black light and found more ominous messages.
Even the movie posters for “The Batman” got in on the fun and featured just a question mark with a QR code that led people to the movie’s official trailer.
These campaigns are a classic example of effectively combining online and offline experiences, improving the reach of your campaigns.
Marketing lessons and Takeaways:
- This campaign’s success has shown us that marketing experiences can no longer be exclusively online or offline to reap the biggest results.
- QR codes are a crowd favorite, so include them to instantly boost engagement.
Kimp Tip: When you plan campaigns that span online and offline mediums, ensure that the customer’s journey across these mediums is smooth and consistent. Optimize your media, and ensure design consistency for a smooth transition.
Working with a design team like Kimp Graphics adept at dealing in print and digital designs can make things easier for you. Book a call or start a free trial to learn more.
4. Building intrigue with the Riddler
Remember when we told you that “The Batman” movie has managed to keep the suspense alive while revealing as little as possible? Well, this is also a clever marketing ploy, and the team has leveraged this intrigue quite well by creating content around a very popular character – “The Riddler”.
Every poster, sign, movie release update, and even social media content centered around “The Riddler” has successfully built up the hype. Remember the signs with the code? The website that they lead you to is also tied to the character.
And the marketing has gone heavy on symbolism by leaving question marks and other icons that relate to The Riddler everywhere on the marketing material.
Marketing lessons and Takeaways:
- Building intrigue is an essential component of any successful marketing campaign. With a good attention-generating campaign, you can ensure that on the launch day, your product has all the eyes it needs.
- When you are running a long campaign on a particular theme, all your content has to follow the same language, imagery, and design style to build awareness and generate faster brand recall over time.
5. “The Batman” on Social Media
Accessibility is everything in today’s time. If your customers have to spend more than 5 minutes looking up a product, you have already lost them. You need to make it easy for your audience to see your content. So when it is time to launch a product, or piece of content, in the market, you must create a solid social presence first.
Take “The Batman” as an example. The movie could have used the Warner Bros handle to promote their product, but that would mean that their target audience had to search through a lot of content to get to the “The Batman” marketing.
By making their content more accessible on Twitter, Instagram, and the official website, their marketing makes a much bigger impact. And each one of their designs has a higher reach.
Marketing lessons and Takeaways:
- Dedicated social media accounts and websites for products make it easy to track traffic, engage with the audience, and distribute content effectively.
- Update the channels consistently to engage the audience.
Kimp Tip: The key to acing an omnichannel presence is to repurpose content effectively and tune each piece to each platform’s requirements. You want customers to have the same experience across channels to build brand value. Creating a brand style guide or a social media style guide can help here.
Looking for a design team to establish a social presence for your product? Kimp Graphics and Kimp Videos subscriptions are just a click away.
6. Batman’s call appears worldwide
This campaign is another ode to the production house’s undying love for OOH advertisements. Remember the three salient features of Batman’s identity that we spoke of? Well, after they went gung ho with the Batmobile campaign in Singapore, the team launched a bigger worldwide campaign that featured the Bat-signal.
Yes, the iconic signal that shaped many childhoods is now on popular buildings, telling everyone that Batman is back.
Displaying movie premieres and logos on the Burj Khalifa has become a popular trend. “The Batman” marketing tapped into this with the Bat-signal.
Marketing lessons and Takeaways:
- Build a significant brand identity for the product that can stand on its own, even without the parent brand.
- If you want customers to recognize your brand anywhere, capitalize on that identity and promote it extensively.
7. The Superhero of Biscuits
“The Batman” is becoming a part of a very beloved franchise, so it has to live up to high expectations. This means reaching audiences from every demographic, which made Warner Bros get even more creative with their marketing.
Making a play on Batman’s dark tendencies, the company paired with the Sunfeast Dark Fantasy brand and celebrated the cookie as Batman’s choice. The ad received a great response, popularizing “The Batman” among people of all ages.
But the cookie partnerships did not stop there. The brand has also paired with Oreo, by way of a Batman-themed Oreo cookie and riddles on the packaging. Anyone who can solve the riddles gets the prize of a special look into The Batman universe. The campaign is live in select markets including Canada, the UK and Ireland.
Marketing lessons and Takeaway:
- Collaborations with popular brands help you reach a wider audience than you would have without them.
- Having your brand identity visible in collaborations is important for a successful campaign.
Kimp Tip: When you collaborate with brands, pick designs that can highlight your brand identity in combination with the other brand’s as well. Co-branding is important for an aesthetic appearance.
Create “The Batman” Inspired campaigns with Kimp
Feeling inspired by the marketing campaigns we just checked out? What do you think is the reason for their immense success? Well, the Batman franchise’s brand value has been years in the making. “The Batman” movie has capitalized on this popularity and done a great job in cementing the new identity with the old fans as well.
And in all these campaigns, the designs shine through. They are effective in attracting the audience’s attention and engaging them consistently.
Do you want to replicate this for your campaigns as well? What if you could do it for an affordable price?
With Kimp’s unlimited graphic design (Kimp Graphics) and video design (Kimp Video), you can do it all. We provide unlimited design requests with unlimited revisions across a variety of design categories for a flat monthly fee.
So why wait? Sign up for the free trial now and bring your inspiration alive.