The campaign has seen screaming protestors being dumped outside of the Sydney Apple store and traipsing through the streets. Cryptic messages have also popped up all over Sydney and Melbourne. Black-and-white signs bearing the message "Wake Up" have been spotted all over the two cities, including on the bottom of a pool at Sydney's Bondi Beach.

RIM today took ownership of the controversial campaign.

We can confirm that the Australian "Wake Up" campaign, which involves a series of experiential activities taking place across Sydney and Melbourne, was created by RIM Australia. A reveal will take place on 7 May that will aim to provoke conversation on what "being in business" means to Australians.

Speculation had been rife that Samsung Australia was behind the experimental advertising push, with the impending release of the company's latest Galaxy S smartphone and the anti-Apple sentiment acting as clues.

Samsung Australia's marketing director, Arno Lenior, denied the company's involvement in the protests, praising whoever was behind it.

"It's great to know we're front of mind with parts of the media, as well as a good few bloggers, when it comes to discussing campaigns like 'Wake Up'. As a market leader in smartphones, we think Australians have already woken up to the multitude of choices available, but kudos to whoever is behind the campaign -- clearly it's captured significant attention in the market, and we are as keen as everyone else to discover who is behind it," Lenoir said in a statement reported by Mumbrella.

The theory that RIM was behind the campaign was first floated by MacTalk, which uncovered a piece of code that pointed back to the smartphone maker on the cryptic Wake Up countdown website.

This item first appeared on CNET Australia under the headline "RIM responsible for 'Wake Up' campaign."