MANILA – As the latest television program to ride on the superhero boom dominating popular entertainment, Gotham debuted to solid numbers, with 8.2 million US viewers tuning in for the series’ premiere. Telling the story of Bruce Wayne’s hometown in the years before he became the Batman, Ben McKenzie (The O.C.) stars as Lt. James Gordon, a good cop trying to make it in a corrupt city. As the series progresses, Gordon and his cohorts will encounter many of the men and women who will play pivotal roles in his, the Batman’s, and Gotham’s, future.
adobo Magazine was among the selected media and guests invited to an exclusive screening event at Top Shelf at Fully Booked, Bonifacio High Street. Before the screening, adobo was able to speak with Gregory Ho, Turner International Asia Pacific’s vice president of communications and marketing on how the program is being sold to Asian audiences.
ADOBO: How do you market a “Batman show” without Batman?
HO: Gotham – the series – draws on the origin story of a pre-Batman Gotham City, a city in decay. This concept presents great opportunities from a marketing point of view and it allows a really creative approach to the show’s launch.
Using the wealth of existing knowledge that everyone has about the Batman franchise, the marketing angle centres on the villains and Gotham City itself. In our Philippines’ campaign, as the first eight episodes look specifically at Oswald Cobblepot (aka The Penguin), our efforts initially target this particular eccentric criminal mastermind.
Gotham’s compelling storylines will provide WarnerTV audiences with plenty of “ah-ha!” moments as its narratives unfold to explain why these individuals evolved to become the super villains we all know. For example, who was the Joker? And why did Catwoman turn out the way she did?
ADOBO: How different, if at all, is the marketing campaign for the program in Asia when compared to that in the United States? Will we be seeing any on-ground activations for the series in Southeast Asia?
HO: Globally, we are all looking to promote the core of the show, using taglines that push the concept of “beginnings” and “before Batman”. That said, we are certainly channeling plenty of effort into on-the-ground and digital activities in specific Southeast Asia markets, including the Philippines.
ADOBO: What are the long-term plans for DC’s adapted properties on the small screen, and will older series/films be rebroadcast?
HO: Turner’s channels, including WarnerTV, have unparalleled access to the latest Warner Bros. content – as well as its library – so we will be preparing for the on-air Gotham launch with a Batman movie marathon.
From a theatrical point of view, DC Comics and Warner Bros. obviously have plenty in the pipeline, including Batman v Superman. But TV series like Gotham and even Beware the Batman, the animated series on Toonami, also go a long way to supporting these releases and supporting these valuable franchises.
For the month of September, Philippine Batfans were invited to take part in the “Gotham Villain Hunt”, a scavenger hunt to find a thousand limited-edition Gotham-branded penguin hidden all over Manila. In addition, anyone who found one could enter into a prize draw to win a series of prizes ranging from branded premiums to high-end electronics.
In the Philippines, Gotham premiered exclusively on WarnerTV last Thursday, two calendar days after the US, and can be viewed on SKYcable (channel 77), Destiny Cable (channel 218), and Cignal (channel 66)
