THE FINALISTS 2012 YOUR TEAM • YOUR GAMES • YOUR AWARDS Previous Winner 10th Anniversary
2007: Ubisoft 2008: Electronic Arts 2010: Nintendo 2011: Microsoft
This award is for any company or team that has worked on campaigns dedicated to in-store and retail support, inclusive of trade advertising, POS, distribution and merchandising
ACTIVISION The major focuses for Activisionʼs trade marketing team were extensive campaigns to launch Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and Skylanders: Spyroʼs Adventure. For CoD, the team worked with closely with retailers to drive pre-orders throughout the year, and arranged a slew of midnight launches around the nation. Meanwhile, more than 1,500 store managers from top UK outlets were educated about Skylandersʼ unique interactive figures and secured prominent in-store space in specialist stores and supermarket alike.
BETHESDA
The publisher had four major releases this last year, all of which had a strong presence at retail. Brink and Hunted: The Demonʼs Forge were supported by significant pre-order campaigns, while Bethesda upped the ante for the arrivals of Rage and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. The former made an impact in stores with standout POS, while the latter was one of the biggest launches at retail last year. The midnight opening for Skyrim at GAME, Oxford Street rivalled the scale of Modern Warfare 3ʼs, with just as many consumers queuing up to pick a copy of the game.
MICROSOFT 2011 was dedicated to maintaining the well- established relationships with retailers that have made the Xbox 360 Britainʼs best-selling console. The Microsoft team visited top retailers regularly to showcase the Xbox 360 and its games to both staff and customers, as well as raising further awareness of Kinect. Sampling tours showcased the most popular Kinect titles and Xbox Liveʼs entertainment functions. The team also orchestrated massive launches for blockbuster first-party titles such as Forza 4 and Gears of War 3.
NINTENDO
Increasingly tough market conditions meant the Nintendo team had to find new ways to work with retail and promote its releases. Throughout the year, the platform holder has held award-winning staff training events and experimented with projects such as assisted selling and mobile marketing. The team even worked to coincide releases with retailer promotions, and managed to organise one of the biggest launches of 2011 for Nintendo 3DS. Similarly strong launches were arranged with retail for the release of Mario Kart 7, Super Mario 3D Land, Professor Layton and two Zelda titles.