By John Walker on November 10th, 2007 at 11:39 am.
Here’s a strange piece of viral advertising. (And proof I can’t be trusted with a document marked “CONFIDENTIAL”).
In the post this morning came a stiff, brown envelope, containing what purports to be a “CONFIDENTIAL” document, with the vast majority of the text blacked out. And a very small envelope stapled to the document, containing nothing but an O2 mobile phone sim card.
It disappointingly quickly reveals itself to be a viral for Crysis, with statements like,
“…TO USE ELEMENT OF SURPRISE AND REMAIN COVERT AT ALL TIMES. IT IS VITAL THAT THE NORTH KOREANS DO NOT KNOW THAT THE TEAM IS ON THE ISLAND.”
Scans of the doc, and more below.
And if that weren’t enough,
“NANOSUITS CAN REROUTE ITS ENERGY TO FOUR DIFFERENT POWER SUBSYSTEMS; ARMOR, SPEED, STRENGTH AND CLOAK.”
So subtlety isn’t their goal, and if it’s the beginning of an ARG, then they’ve rather blown their load early on.
What I can’t figure out is what the sim card is for. I’ve put it in a spare phone, but I can’t see anything special on the card (although the phone is a massive nightmare to use). It comes with its own number, and a generous £0.00 credit. So is this advertising for O2? For Crysis? What? Will my phone ring with further instructions? Clearly this is exactly the sort of coverage they’re after, so I’ve fallen directly into the trap. So I’ll make sure they resent it slightly by complaining further for the clumsy and ultimately disappointing lack of subtlety in the document text: that’s not how you establish a mystery – it’s how you establish you’re not too hot at ARGs.
Here’s the scans of the doc:
Page 1
Page 2
Page 3
Page 4
Page 5
Page 6
Page 7
Page 8
Did everyone on the beta receive one of these this morning? And does anyone know what the sim is for?
10/11/2007 at 12:37 drunkymonkey says:
Oh dear, the Nanosuit bit read just like a game manual…
10/11/2007 at 12:50 Tom says:
not got one. Prolly just for the subscribers.
10/11/2007 at 12:51 derFeef says:
A little bit cheap…
10/11/2007 at 14:34 The_B says:
Maybe you’re supposed to put the card in one of those newfangled iPhones. Whereupon it transforms into some sort of Crysis-Nanosuit-Alien-Robot thing. Or something.
10/11/2007 at 16:27 Piratepete says:
no you out it in an iPhone and fins the veil of mystery lifted to realise they are rubbish
10/11/2007 at 16:27 Piratepete says:
meh. find = fins its all the same :)
10/11/2007 at 16:54 The_B says:
Well, kinda. But I hoped my idea would actually make the iPhone Good.
10/11/2007 at 17:44 Nick says:
“Du har redan blivit biten idag, så du är skyddad!”
Buh?
10/11/2007 at 17:56 Martin Coxall says:
This iPhone I’m using right here is the single best gadget I have ever owned.
It’s a pity that Crysis is released on the same day as Mario. It means that I’ll probably forget to play it between all the star based brilliance.
10/11/2007 at 18:01 Willem says:
““Du har redan blivit biten idag, så du är skyddad!”
Buh?”
Spammer. Swedish. Says it all, really.
10/11/2007 at 18:26 John Walker says:
Peculiar spam – occasionally matched the post content. And all from the same IP, which is now blocked.
10/11/2007 at 21:59 Zell says:
“You’ve already been bitten today, so you’re protected!”
That’s bizarrely intriguing. Did it only happen for this one post? Maybe it’s a bot scanning das interwebs for precisely this content — as part of the viral campaign…
10/11/2007 at 22:19 Wickedashtray says:
would’ve been cool if the USPS had opened this and reported it to US intelligence…..
comedy gold would’ve surely ensued
10/11/2007 at 23:51 Garth says:
This is one of the worst viral or.. whatever things I’ve ever seen. It reads like a shitty early 90′s add for some random shooter. I mean, come on: “Distress signal continues from Scientists research vehicle – plotted on nanosuit HUD.” So I can’t know the name of the General planning this, but I can know we’ve developed Nanosuit technology?
11/11/2007 at 10:13 Bobsy says:
Damn! That Quake bastard works fast!
11/11/2007 at 15:45 Pod says:
Didn’t one of these get recalled back in the 90s, when a mailshot to all and sundry got misinterperated and people thought we were going to war, etc?
12/11/2007 at 17:16 McFluffin says:
Yeah, I got one of these as well. Did get a text message with a web address and login?
14/11/2007 at 12:12 Mat says:
Glad I wasn’t the only one to get this through the post. Weird thing is I got mine sent to a new job I’ve only been at a couple of weeks and was followed by a cryptic email:
Hi Mat,
I need your help with this audio file!
Can you help?
http://www.ngc598.com
username : administrator
password : triangulum
Doing a bit of digging into the headers from the Hotmail address shows that the IP address it originated from was from some shared office space in Brighton (UK). I’m assuming that one of the companies in there is the PR company involved.
13/11/2008 at 06:38 Federico Holt says:
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