‘The most outlandish PR blunder in video gaming history’
While you were gearing up to ring in the new year, a one-man PR shop was committing business suicide.
The more high profile of the two involved Verizon Wireless, which unveiled a $2 convenience fee on Dec. 29 that was met with so much customer backlash the company reversed its decision 24 hours later.
The second gaffe occurred in the word of video games, where Ocean Marketing—which is handling the PR for N-Control, maker of the Avenger PlayStation 3 controller—committed brand suicide through a series of emails.
To make a long story short, a customer named Dave pre-ordered the controllers and expected to receive them in early December. By Dec. 16, Dave had not gotten the controllers, so he emailed Ocean Marketing to learn about the status of the order.
Ocean’s Paul Christoforo responded. Turns out, Ocean is a one-man shop with Christoforo at the helm. The email exchange that followed is not only one of the worst examples of customer service you’ll ever read, but also “the most outlandish PR blunder in video gaming history,” according to VentureBeat.
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