The Watch Dogs PR and marketing teams should be commended for the amount of hype they’ve managed to generate and maintain for the game over the past two years. It seems like they may have gotten a little too carried away with the theme of the game with a PR stunt that ended with a bomb squad being called.
The Ubisoft PR team had apparently sent out packages to Australian media containing promotional items for Watch Dogs. One of the packages made its way to a reporter at Australian outlet ninemsn. The package came in the form of a black safe, with a note telling the reporter to check her voicemail. The reporter had apparently received “sinister” calls the night previous and feared the worst. When staff at ninemsn attempted to open the safe, they reported hearing a beeping noise. Of course, when one receives a package with a beeping noise, one fears the worst.
The ninemsn staff ended up calling the Sydney police and a bomb squad was sent to open and examine the contents of the safe. Everything in the safe ended up being harmless, Watch Dogs promotional materials.
Apparently, the voicemail that the note on the black safe referred to was one made by Ubisoft PR, alerting outlets of the contents of the package. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like anyone at ninemsn received the call.
“Unfortunately, the delivery to Ninemsn didn’t go as planned, and we unreservedly apologise to Ninemsn’s staff for the mistake and for any problems caused as a result. We will take additional precautions in the future to ensure this kind of situation doesn’t happen again,” said Ubisoft in regards to the botched PR stunt.
Thanks, London Evening Standard.
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