New Zealand television network TV3 made a direct copy of our PS3 Kevin Butler "Mon tage" commercial. Instead of playing the standard role of the corporate bully and suing them, PlayStation took the high road, and spun the incident into free worldwide brand awareness. It started with a blog post in which Kevin chided the network for "borrowing" his ad and offered constructive criticism on how to better do it next time. With that simple blog post, a few tweets and a sea of online sharing from the PlayStation Nation, Kevin Butler not only received an apology, the PS3 was named the official console of New Zealand.

We began with a lighthearted, almost flattered, press release from Kevin Butler that was published on the PlayStation Blog and seeded with gaming news sites. In addition Kevin reached out to TV3 through twitter messages, making nice while offering some friendly advice. When TV3 responded to our statement by sending a friendship basket full of New Zealand products and a plaque proclaiming PS3 the Official Console of New Zealand, we applauded them through twitter and another round of stories covered the reconciliation.

What could have been perceived as another case of corporate bullying was instead turned into a surprising PR win for all involved. But don't take our word for it, take the gamers:"Take that courtrooms! There is a new brand of justice, and its name is Butler""Kevin Butler is the key to world peace!!""I love this reaction. Humor and no lawsuit? How often do you see this sort of thing today?" Finally, PlayStation was named the Official Console of New Zealand, complete with a plaque to prove it.