Objectives

For Batman's 75th Anniversary this past year, Warner Bros. pulled out all the stops to mark this milestone with major plans for new comic books, television shows, and movies based upon the iconic character.

But of all the special projects that would debut in 2014, one had the greatest honor of bookending the year-long celebration in November as the definitive symbol representing the Caped Crusader's evolution through history and permanence in pop culture—LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham.

Placed in this significant role, WB Games and TT Games understood that this title needed to be the most ambitious LEGO game to date in terms of its gameplay and fan service to Batman followers all over the world.

Strategy and Execution

Winning the 2014 Shorty Award in this category and the return of the demographic breakdown gave WB Games solid evidence to have social media lead the marketing for LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham to a targeted audience of cross-generational gamers, pop culture addicts, and comic book fans.

After careful examination of these highly devoted fan bases, the focus was placed on three main strategies to effectively engage these communities and maximize reach by virality:

• Dedication – Daily engagement by both marketing and production was the foremost philosophy driving the social media campaign for LEGO Batman 3. This type of practice incentivizes additional conversation and sustains an active community upon the reputation of a dedicated brand. Additionally, major decisions about the game's selection of characters, features, and downloadable content were made in consideration of the opinions of very vocal fans who, in turn, were more than pleased to share their excitement for a much more personal game.

Thank you so much for putting this guy in the game. All of you rock! Go FireFly!!!! pic.twitter.com/hZoCMMdBUm
— Tyman Ricks (@_venom_friend_) July 24, 2014

• Participation – Recognizing LEGO Batman 3's strengths as a property of multiple intersecting genres, WB Games maintained the game's relevancy between key announcements using the signature humor of the LEGO brand to draft on associated trends in entertainment. Meanwhile, cooperation with partners like WB Pictures and The CW handed LEGO Batman 3 major social amplification as one of the only entities officially sanctioned to execute a branded parody of titles such as Batman v Superman, Arrow, and The Flash.
  • Sample 1 - Real-time response to Batmobile
  • Sample 2 - Real-time response to Wonder Woman
  • Sample 3 - Response to Arrow/Flash Crossover (see below)

Red or green bricks? The showdown begins tonight at 8/7c. Whose side are you on? #TheFlash #Arrow #LEGOBatmanGame pic.twitter.com/psD7Al9Ujj
— LEGO Batman (@LEGOBatmanGame) December 2, 2014

• Influence – Awareness for LEGO Batman 3 was elevated greatly by the inclusion of an all-star cast, whose members were strategically selected to become actual in-game characters based on their large online followings as well as their authenticity as fans of Batman, DC Comics, and LEGO. Of all the games in LEGO videogame history, LEGO Batman 3 by far had the most support on social media by Hollywood celebrities including...
  • Conan O'Brien, talk show host - 14.6MM Twitter followers (view example)
  • Stephen Amell, star of The CW's Arrow - 3.4MM Facebook fans (view example)
  • Kevin Smith, filmmaker/podcaster - 2.73MM Twitter followers (see below)
  • Adam West, Gilbert Gottfried, Geoff Johns, Jim Lee, and more.

Wanna control me? Or maybe blow me apart? I'm a playable character in the new @LEGOBatmanGame! And it's out NOW! pic.twitter.com/v0gGM6Tpcz
— KevinSmith (@ThatKevinSmith) November 12, 2014

The planning, synergy, and labor that went into the social media campaign for this project was executed at levels never before attempted for a LEGO game, and yielded very positive results including…

• Generating 1.4 billion impressions on Twitter to 96.7MM accounts on the social network, with 25.1MM impressions originating directly from @LEGOBatmanGame.
• Delivering 88MM total impressions on Facebook to no less than 8.3MM users of the social network.
• A personal record of 3.7MM fans reached organically by a single Facebook post.
• Achieving 32.5% growth in Page Likes for LEGO Batman within six months on Facebook.
• Maintaining an average of one Facebook post per day for six months, while maintaining a 12.3% average engagement rate per post.
• Quick growth on new social channels including Instagram (34k followers) Twitter (24k followers).
• Driving nearly 194k clicks by customers to purchase the game at GameStop, leading to first-week sales of over 290k units as the #1 family action game in the world.
• Securing a larger share of discovery via social media over traditional outlets for LEGO Batman 3, compared to previous LEGO games.

Special thanks to the team that brought you all the LEGO Batman 3 awesomeness from #SDCC! #LEGOBatmanGame pic.twitter.com/hdRA0pupuu
— LEGO Batman (@LEGOBatmanGame) July 29, 2014

Media

Video for BEYOND SOCIAL - LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham