Viral marketing campaigns are becoming a frequently used tool in the promotion of many products, and naturally games have been one of the biggest 'beneficiaries' of this innovative technique. Rather then spending thousands of pounds on print and ads, companies now get potential customers to do their work for them by utilising technology to subtly promote products. has now admitted that it is responsible for the mobile phone virus which has been doing the rounds lately.

The virus is harmless although it does leave a groaning zombie ring tone on infected mobiles. This is all an attempt to drum up interest in Resident Evil: Outbreak which is just coming out for the PS2. The virus uses a pyramid award scheme to encourage people to send the virus on to as many contacts a possible so as to increase their chances of blagging some exclusive Resident Evil: Outbreak promotional material. Called the T-VIRUS, the marketing campaign has apparently gotten out of hand, with infected mobiles reaching 'epidemic' levels and PR people unsure as to how to get things cleaned up.

"We had to come clean about the T-VIRUS eventually," commented Ben Le Rougetel, Senior PR Manager and Chief Virologist, CE Europe. "The T-VIRUS was originally designed to promote the release of Resident Evil: Outbreak for PS2, but it's spread much quicker than we originally anticipated. It's now totally out of control and we're not totally sure how to stop it."

Let's just hope the PR people involved aren't charging Capcom too much for their services as it is members of the public who are paying (SMS fees) to do their work for them.

By Sam Gibson

Comments

You can use BBCode

No comments here yet. Be the first and use the form on the left!