Meta’s artful ‘Batman: Arkham Shadow’ spot lets viewers become the Caped Crusader

Alto’s shadowy, high-octane spot was directed by Johan Renck with music by the Prodigy’s Liam Howlett

Published On
Oct 29, 2024

Editor's Pick

“Batman: Arkham Shadow,” the new VR game for the Meta Quest 3/3S, is getting strong reviews in its first days on the market—and also got a stylish, high-energy launch spot to match, created by agency Alto.

The 60-second ad, directed by Johan Renck, immerses the viewer in Gotham City with striking black-and-white cinematography and a pumping soundtrack—a new cut of The Prodigy’s 1995 track “Poison,” arranged by Liam Howlett. Chaos reigns in Gotham, as the Rat King—the villain in the game—inspires a cult of followers to violence. Only Batman can restore a semblance of order.

Alto and Renck worked from a limitation that was also an opportunity: that “Arkham Shadow” players play as Batman, and thus don’t see him—so, he couldn’t appear in the spot, either. But his presence as shadows adds to the tension and artful flair of the piece. (Erik Messerschmidt, Oscar winner for David Fincher’s black-and-white biopic “Mank,” was the cinematographer.) 

The spot incorporates other elements of the game, but also stands alone as a content piece with its own unique vibe.

Also see: 16 creative campaigns to know about today

“We wanted to go back to this tradition of making people feel what the game is, versus showing them what the game is,” Hannes Ciatti, Alto’s chief creative officer, said in an interview. “We created this canvas of darkness and then painted everything on that canvas in shadows. We wanted to throw you right into this world, to soak in the atmosphere of visiting Gotham.”

“There are elements [in the film] from the game—the rat goons, the weapons Batman is using. But we took a lot of artistic license as well,” said Ed Rogers, managing partner at Alto. “There’s a boldness to that. It harkens back to some of the great [game] launches from a decade ago, where it wasn’t a literal like-for-like pulling out parts of the game. It’s more about creating an emotive feeling.” 

Renck told Ad Age that project “completely restored my faith in advertising,” saying it felt like a return “to the halcyon days of the past, when we were adventurous, irreverent and filled with big ideas to deepen brand connection and prompt thought.”

He added: “On my end, it was easy to connect to this particular piece, as it is so much my bag: dark, intense and different. Finally, the fact that we got the man who is The Prodigy—Liam Howlett himself—intrigued enough to jump in to remaster and cut ‘Poison’ proves we were not just making a piece of disposable content.”

There is also OOH advertising that shows the Caped Crusader and “Batman: Arkham Shadow” players back to back, merging to become one.

Batman Arkham Shadow billboard

Batman Arkham Shadow subway posters

“Never have you ever had the opportunity to be the hero as in ‘Batman: Arkham Shadow,’” said Jorge Calleja Acuña, head of creative at Meta Reality Labs. “We wanted the campaign to reflect that feeling, to capture the emotion of you defeating Gotham.” (Along with Meta, other stakeholders in the project included Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, DC Comics and game developer Camouflaj.)

The film will run in cinemas and on connected TV, online video, and paid social.

More Creativity coverage from Ad Age:

Sign up for our daily Creativity newsletter to see the best stories of the day.

Credits

Date
Oct 29, 2024
Client :
Meta
Client :
DC Comics
Client :
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
Client :
Camouflaj
Agency :
Alto
Founder & CCO :
Hannes Ciatti
ECD & Partner :
Dan Kroeger
ECD & Partner :
Pierre Janneau Houllier
ECD :
Jason Bagley
Creative Director :
Ryan Snyder
Creative Director :
Fil Nogueira
Creative Director :
Riccardo Rachello
Creative Director :
Erik Fahrenkopf
Creative Director :
Sara Phillips
Partner & Head of Strategy :
Tara Fray
Strategy Director :
Drew Phillips
Comms Planning Director :
Josh Chang
Comms Planning Director :
Charles Lee
Managing Partner :
Matt Bonin
Executive Producer Film :
Victoria Bennett
Executive Producer Film :
Mark Johnson
Director of Art Production :
Julia Menassa Panev
Integrated Producer :
Marvin Cassell
Managing Partner :
Ed Rogers
Head of Brand :
Shannon Coletti
Brand Lead :
Meredith Parsia
Sr. Brand Director :
Erandika Weerasinghe
Design :
Studio Herrstrom
Creative Director :
Erik Herrstrom
Creative Director :
Lukas Haider
Senior Designer :
Jon Marsh
Motion Designer :
Marcell Gulyas
Designer :
Martin Carlsson
Designer :
Dennis Johansson
Operations & Production :
Kara Griffin Cushman
Production Company :
RESET
Director :
Johan Renck
Executive Producer :
Laura Macauley
Director of Photography :
Erik Messerschmidt
Production Designer :
Jan Houllevigue
Line Producer :
Kevin Comer
Music :
Premier Music Group
Music Supervisor :
Winslow Bright
Music Supervisor :
Ian Herbert
Music Editor :
Dylan Nowik
Music Artist :
The Prodigy
Editorial :
Trim
Editorial :
Cosmo Street
Editor :
Tim Lindsay
Offline Producer :
Polly Kemp
Offline Producer :
Anne Lai
Assistant Editor :
Josh Mannox
Assistant Editor :
Milo Bennett
VFX :
Light VFX
VFX Supervisor :
Antoine Moulineau
Executive Producer :
Guillaume Raffi
Color Grade :
Company3
Colorist :
Jean-Clement Soret
Producer :
Ellora Soret
Sound Design & Mix :
750 MPH
Sound Designer :
Sam Ashwell
Mix Engineer :
Sam Ashwell
EP :
Olivia Ray
Photographer :
Sophy Holland
Photographer's Agent :
Levine Leavitt
Photo Producer :
Tess Hogan
Retouching :
Sophy Holland
Retouching :
Mary Spencer
Assets :
Buck
Executive Producer :
Ryan McGrath
Producer :
Pablo Martinez-Arasey
Executive Director of Design :
Brian Won
Concept Design Director :
Dae-Han Yi
Concept Designer :
Arron Ingold
Concept Designer :
Fernando Utreras
Concept Designer :
Jack Usephot
Compositor :
Jim Lind
Storyboard Artist :
Tristyn Pease
2D Lead :
Yussef Cole
2D Animator :
Dan Cantelm
2D Animator :
Kyle Snider
Print/Digital Post :
Pure Production
Co-Founder :
Scott Truffa
Co-Founder :
Virginia Kornfeld
Digital Studio Lead :
Fred Ehrhart
Senior Production Manager :
Mai Armstrong

Need a credit fix? Contact the Creativity Editors

Industry
Project Type