Don't violate the here-and-now...or don't scare people with bombs

Interesting article from Brandweek about a Dark Knight promo that bombed.

Here's the basics of the article:

A Dark Knight promotion, featuring a chocolate cake wired to look like an explosive device, prompted a local San Antonio, Texas, news station to call in the bomb squad earlier this week.
Echoing the Aqua Teen Hunger Force bomb scare in Boston in Feb. 2007, the low-budget guerilla campaign delivered some unintended results for the Santikos Theater chain.

A couple of things:
- Yes, you need to be symbolically unique, but you shouldn't be reckless (unless that's part of your brand).
- No, you shouldn't violate most general norms of your audience. The cake (as far as I know has no real safe signifier to folks to say "hey it's a joke."


There are a few of you out there that are saying "Hey, look, buzz..."if you still believe that hack version marketing, I have nothing for you. I just ask that you get out of you polyester used-car salesman suit and move on. In the case of the Dark Knight, I'm guessing that the record-setting weekend attendance wasn't from your guerrilla/dunce marketing team. It was from more traditional channels, supported by a sad story about a co-star, and an interesting use of trailers at Imax theaters last winter -- that were then propagated through YouTube.

I think the Aqua Teen Hunger Force (ATHF) version was a bit different, because its stunt, the people charged with the crime, and the "bomb" were all fairly well aligned with Adult Swim/ATHF guerilla promotion. So, it got some points for being grounded with its audience. Still a bit risky, but that's inline with the overall brand. The Dark Knight promotion seemed lazy and stupid...unlike the depth and thought provoking nature of the actual Batman text as interpreted by Director Christopher Nolan.