AWARD CRITERIA: Responsiveness and relations with the media, Originality and imagination, Effective use of assets and cretion of new materials
PR TEAM
SEGA
(WITH MISCHIEF PR) The highlight of Segaʼs year was the 20th Anniversary of gaming icon Sonic The Hedgehog. Together with Mischief PR, the publisherʼs UK PR team put Sonic in over 200 articles across national print, magazines and even broadcast. More coverage was generated by The Wantedʼs attendance at the launch of Mario & Sonic 2012, with over 800 fans coming to meet the boy band. Now the team is focusing on Aliens: Colonial Marines, out later this year, with nine magazine covers already secured.
THQ
The start of 2011 saw the continuation of THQʼs long running and highly creative Homefront campaign. Once the game had taken No.1 in the UK charts, the publisher focused its efforts on Saints Row: The Third, fuelling the ʻalways onʼ campaign that teased press and consumers alike with new details of the over-the-top crime sim. Highlights included appearances by pre-order campaign character Professor Genki, Call of Duty and Battlefield parody trailers and the issue of four-foot dildo bats to top London media.
UBISOFT
(WITH EMANATE PR) The five-strong Ubisoft team has more than 30 years of experience in the games industry between its members, and has been working closely with Emanate since the agency was set up in 2010. In addition to multiple magazine covers for Assassinʼs Creed: Revelations, key events promoted top titles to the press, such as a muscle car road trip to San Francisco for Driver and an Istanbul excursion for Creed, as well as summer showcase and womenʼs media events. There were also celebrity initiatives.
WARNER BROS INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT (WITH PREMIER PR AND
RENEGADE PR) The campaign for Arkham City was one of the biggest seen in 2011. The game racked up 18 specialist and mainstream magazine covers, celebrity endorsements and hundreds of lead reviews. Arkham City was the highest rated game on Metacritic last year. Batman stalked his way into mainstream publications with photoshoots of him watching over London. 140,000 gamers sampled the title at GAMEfest, EG Expo and MCM Expo.
XBOX
(WITH JCPR) Microsoftʼs biggest campaign of the year was for Gears of War 3, which graced 15 magazine covers in the run-up to the gameʼs release. Gearsʼ launch culminated in a Locust invasion at GAMEfest and Londonʼs Marble Arch. For Forza 4, the team went all out with a press day at the Top Gear test track, and a convoy of 20 supercars that paraded through London. Xbox and its JCPR partners are still working on an ongoing Kinect Sports campaign using well-known sporting personalities to promote the game.