coldwinter.jpgThe video game industry is at it again, with an ARG-like immersive advertising campaign for the newly-released Cold Winter. Players came across freesterling.com, which contained pleas for help from a man named Robert Sterling.

Robert had reason to believe that his brother Andrew was a British spy who had been kidnapped by Chinese agents, but he couldn’t get the British government to help or even admit to any knowledge of the situation. Quite a mess for the anxious Robert, who had gotten his hands on videos of Andrew being kidnapped and then interrogated.

He asked readers to sign a petition to get help for Andrew. The website has since come clean about its real purpose, but it still hosts the videos and a message from Robert. Andrew the spy is the main character of Cold Winter, which begins with him having to escape Chinese captivity.

The campaign was run by Making Waves, which styles itself as a “youth marketing agency” that uses “experience” as its advertising medium.