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It has been said for generations that fortune favors the bold. So if a video game company wants to promote their work, it’s not enough to churn out a few trailers and posters. To effectively market their brand, they have to get things a little crazy.
Unconventional promotions can seem silly or unproductive, but they can also have a direct bearing on a game’s success. , was also very memorable. To promote Battlefield 3, tanks raided London with vehicles branded with the game’s title. These strategies may have backfired, but they helped win over consumers.
However, it should be stressed that outlandish endorsements and guerrilla marketing don’t always pay off. In fact, they can be seen as desperate, exploitative, stupid, and downright aggressive.
Some of these advertising methods didn’t work and jeopardized the very product they were trying to sell. Sometimes marketing teams are better off doing nothing at all than relying on these ridiculously smart schemes. Here are the 10 worst marketing campaigns ever done for video games.
Splinter Cell has a reputation as the ultimate stealth shooter. The franchise’s hero, Sam Fisher, is a highly skilled assassin who can sneak into any facility and kill his targets without anyone being smart until it’s too late.
So when Splinter Cell Conviction neared its release, Ubisoft decided to run a promotion in New Zealand that was sure to impress (but not exactly what they were hoping for). Essentially, the company hired actors to walk into Auckland’s crowded bars and threaten locals with fake guns.
Naturally, the situation unfolded as you imagined. Instead of customers saying, “Oh look, this gentleman is clearly promoting a video game,” everyone either hid under tables or fled the establishment in terror.
To make matters worse, the actor playing the gunman was nearly spotted by the police.
Some marketing campaigns only seem silly in hindsight, but I’m baffled that no one involved in this stunt thought it was a bad idea. I mean, how did you think the locals would react when they saw a man wielding a realistic gun prop?
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