.. now here’s a campaign case study to watch. For some time now there’s been some interesting (if not cryptic) marketing going on for the next batman film. Check out more background here. So far it makes Art of the Heist and I Love Bees look like child’s play.

As a next step the campaign has:

- Blanketed Comnicon (international comic bookfest – geeky for sure, but home to all the rabid fans/influential).
- Launched a trail of marketing breadcrumbs, a storyline to follow that brings the movie content into the real world.
- Presumes the Joker is running rampant in the real world using secret codes, skywriting, website clues, and call-in numbers to deceive, recruit and taunt real people.

Ideacity blogger Chris Seaberg is tracking the effort unfolding today. Listen to the call in message set up as a “clue” from a hostage being held by the joker. check out the cryptic messages that unlock new content on the web here http://whysoserious.com/ , and get more buzz about it on digg.com . We’ll keep you posted on how this interesting “storytelling” viral case study unfolds.

You can get a great play-by-play account of todays events by a fan here, including steps and codes to get you closer to joining the Jokers gang.