THE DARK KNIGHT RISES 10
Limitations
Since this is a pilot case study, further examinations are possible to make the case study more generalizable. During the course of the study, multiple limitations were encountered. When this study was first initiated, we hoped to conduct both a discourse analysis and a few focus groups, yet as we began our study we were faced with a time constraint. As a result of this constraint, we resorted to focus all of our time on a discourse analysis in order to research aspects of the social media campaign in greater depth. During the course of study, we also felt limited in terms of our budget and how far we could go with our analysis. We hoped to conduct multiple focus groups of various age groups in the McMaster University area, but could not afford it. We also encountered problems after we realized that it would be difficult to prove the effectiveness of the campaign with such a small test pool. In the end, we decided focus groups were an unneeded drain on our limited time, and that discourse analysis would be a better way to show public response.
When conducting our discourse analysis we analyzed multiple tweets which included hashtags related to The Dark Knight Rises, another limitation that was encountered was the limited timeframe studied. Through analyzing tweets, we only looked at tweets within a two week range, for most hashtags. As a result, we did not accumulate enough data to conduct a thorough analysis. If we were to analyze a larger timeframe, or a smaller time frame we may have had more specified data to look at, or more tweets to examine. As well, because these tweets were from 2011 and 2012, we were limited in the number of tweets that were available via twitter, as some have been deleted and most are unattainable since they have been archived.
Another limitation which was faced during our study was that we focused on a very large demographic. When studying tweets, it is difficult to segment tweets into specific demographics, thus, the study was conducted through a worldwide fan base. If we looked at smaller demographics, by age group, culture, location and date, we would have been able to further our research and found much narrowed themes and conclusions. As well, if we were able to specify our demographics we would have been able to get a greater sense of the success and reach of the campaign as a whole. Also, we stuck to examining WB ‟ s social media campaign through twitter with a small focus on the aurora shooting and blogs, yet if we had the chance to look more vastly at all the other social media sites and aspects of the campaign we would have had a lot more information to work with.
Conclusion
The second movie of the trilogy, The Dark Knight, had a successful campaign which was rewarded with significant media coverage and discussion, both online and by word-of-mouth. It was almost necessary to take the campaign to the next level for The Dark Knight Rises, the final movie of the trilogy. This case study of the Warner Bros. marketing campaign of The Dark Knight Rises provided interesting insight into social media and online communities. Social media have created opportunities for people to connect with others with similar interests all around the world. We focused on Twitter hashtags to investigate our research questions and ultimately suggest reasons why the creation of a specific community brought the film such success.
The gradual release of key information about the movie, such as the first trailer and the image of Bane, was crucial since it maintained the interest and excitement of fans. Anticipation was created through because of the drip-drip-drip technique employed by Warner Bros. and is easily seen in Twitter messages. The online buzz created by the hashtags(# tdkr07202012 and # thefirerises) along with the