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Dante's Inferno new marketing stunt: Stupid or Genious?

Maqda7 · 2009-09-12 10:44:42

What would you do if you found an unsolicited check for $200 in your mail?That's a question that's been on the mind of a number of video games journalists this week. In the latest phase of what's rapidly becoming one of the most bizarre, imaginative, and downright troublesome marketing campaigns of recent years, publisher EA mailed out ornate -- but very real and negotiable -- checks for $200 to several notable game bloggers. Ironically, EA may have secured a spot in the Eighth Circle themselves.Intended to promote upcoming EA title Dante's Inferno, the checks arrived in presentation boxes accompanied by a note reading:'In Dante's Inferno, Greed is a two-headed beast. Hoarding wealth feeds on beast and squandering it satiates the other. By cashing this check you succumb to avarice by hoarding filthy lucre, but by not cashing it, you waste it, and thereby surrender to prodigality. Make your choice and suffer the consequence for your sin. And scoff not, for consequences are imminent.'How did the bloggers respond? Kotaku's Brian Crecente burned his, and invited EA to donate the money to a good cause. Joystiq's Chris Grant cashed it, but will donate the money to a prominent women's charity in EA's name.Why a women's charity? We're guessing it has something to do with a past Dante's Inferno promotion, which invited attendees at a July comic-book convention to perform 'acts of lust' upon so-called 'booth babes' in order to win various prizes.Other shameless attempts to gain publicity -- sorry, we mean 'marketing stunts' -- committed in the interests of promoting Dante's Inferno include staging a fake protest outside a video games trade show, and mailing journalists cakes in the shape of severed limbs.SourceSorry if old.

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KingsMessenger

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#51 KingsMessenger

Member since 2009 • 2574 Posts

Theres no assuming here studios and reviewers go to the same functiond do they not? Giving cold hard cash is way beyond normal swag wouldn't you agree?2beers_in_hand

Nope, this is exactly the same. Only this is more effective. They could be purchasing ads on these websites like 99.9% of companies do. But, as everyone here knows, nobody pays attention to or talks about advertisements(unless they are Super Bowl ads). So, what they are doing instead is coming up with a clever way to draw attention to the game. A few small $200 checks create more discussion and interest about the game than $100,000 worth of ads would. Smart marketing. Nothing more.

15 years ago