Destiny was a massive new game for Xbox. But PlayStation had bought all the Destiny advertising rights, meaning Xbox was forbidden from advertising it. So how could we publicize a game we weren’t allowed to advertise?

We created a product with the same name – “Destiny: The New Fragrance By Xbox”.

It was a publicity stunt designed to get maximum attention, registering 72 million media impressions and over 100,000 unique site visits in just the first day. Our PR move trended worldwide on sites like Reddit and Forbes, and some influencers even called it a new genre of advertising – “non-vertising”. With one hit, Destiny became synonymous with Xbox. $6,000 paid media led to $3.8 million earned media. Xbox got 50% share of Destiny sales, and Destiny became the fastest selling new franchise in Xbox history. All without ever advertising the game.

Since we weren’t allowed to advertise Destiny the game, we didn’t. Instead, we created a product with the same name - “Destiny: The New Fragrance By Xbox”.

We then used mobile devices as a crucial part of promoting the “new product”. The idea launched with mobile-responsive print, which only when scanned with the Blippar app revealed a hidden message about why we had to go guerilla, and drew consumers through to purchase.

It trended worldwide on sites like Reddit and Forbes, and was even hailed as a new genre of advertising – “non-vertising”.

The campaign gained 72 million media impressions, 250 000 social media impressions and over 100 000 unique site visits on day 1 alone. Just $6000 paid media led to $3.8 million million earned media. In fact, over 34 pages of articles about the campaign were indexed on google. Xbox got 50% share of Destiny sales, and Destiny became the fastest selling new franchise in Xbox history. All without ever promoting the game.