• by Mallory Russell , June 5, 2014

Several weeks ago, Ubisoft released a campaign for its upcoming video game title, Watch Dogs.

In the campaign, “Amazing Street Hack,” Ubisoft set up a fake store that offers 15-minute smartphone repairs. Caught on hidden camera, the customers are told when their phones are returned to them that they’ve been given a special app that can hack into the local electrical system. It can do the average -- turn the store’s lights on and off -- to the astonishing: turn streetlights on and off, start a parked car, and tamper with traffic lights.

When the last trick -- switching the traffic light -- goes awry and results in a crash, the police arrive and corner the smartphone owner. Don’t worry, before Miranda rights are read, Ubisoft does the big reveal.

To date, the campaign has garnered 14.4 million views. Most video game advertising is comprised of clips from the games. It makes sense, as video games are just long interactive stories. And without much effort, they tend to drive tons of earned media through user-generated content (for example, videos of gameplay).

So why did Ubisoft opt for a much more grand and expensive campaign that doesn’t show any of the footage? Simply, viewers love a good prank.

Brands started to really use “prankvertising” in 2012 with campaigns like Pepsi MAX’s “Uncle Drew” that received more than 57 million views.

It developed into the full-blown trend in 2013.  Pepsi MAX continued to use the creative approach in “Jeff Gordon’s Test Drive” and to great effect (55 million views), and others followed suit: Adobe’s “Photoshop Live,”UK Department of Transport’s “#PubLooShocker,” Crest’s “Halloween Treats Gone Wrong,” and the list goes on and on.

Some have said that prankvertising is played out. Maybe it is. Maybe too many brands tried to make the approach work for them where it wasn’t the right fit. Either way, the trend has died down in 2014, making way for new trends: highly emotional stories and socially aware messaging.

Still, that doesn’t mean that prankvertising isn’t still highly effective when done right. And Ubisoft’s success with “Amazing Street Hack” shows that viewers still like a good prank. There are two reasons for this.

First, pranks are like reality television -- and viewers love them for the same reasons. It makes the people in the video look ridiculous, and people like to watch other people made fools of. And yet, at the same time, we can completely identify with these innocent bystanders, which makes the videos relatable in a weird way.

Second, a prank, when done well, starts conversation. “Amazing Street Hack” is one of the biggest pranks launched in some time. It’s almost inconceivable to think that a brand would go to such lengths, which is why it starts conversation.

The conversation made it newsworthy, so the media wrote about it. It amazed viewers, who talked about it and shared it with friends over social media. All of this drove earned media for the brand and made viewership skyrocket.

So while it may not be trendy anymore, Ubisoft shows that a well-conceived and choreographed prank can still do wonders for a brand’s video presence.