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

“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. “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.

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

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