Dark Knight viral campaign named fan favourite

The Dark Knight has another gong to add to its bulging trophy cabinet - the .net Award for Best Viral Campaign. To see images from the campaign, hit the gallery to your right.

For this year's installment of the UK's longest-running web awards, .net magazine asked its readers to vote for the best of the internet across 16 varied categories.

Each award shortlist is judged by an elite panel, including experts from Yahoo, Microsoft, Adobe and the New York Times.

Most Creative

We spoke to .net editor Dan Oliver about the decision to award the converted trophy to The Dark Knight.

"This viral campaign was the most intensive we've ever seen, and also one of the most creative," Dan said.

"As far back as May 2007 the team behind the Dark Knight's online marketing, 42 Entertainment, was already launching websites for the fictional election campaign of Harvey Dent, such as ibelieveinharveydent.com (which was later 'vandalised' by the Joker).

In all, more than 30 sites were launched, and the mix of marketing material and user generate content kept visitors hooked, right up to the film's release."

For more info, including the rest of the Award winners, head for the .net website.

Sam Ashurst is a London-based film maker, journalist, and podcast host. He's the director of Frankenstein's Creature, A Little More Flesh + A Little More Flesh 2, and co-hosts the Arrow Podcast. His words have appeared on HuffPost, MSN, The Independent, Yahoo, Cosmopolitan, and many more, as well as of course for us here at GamesRadar+.