AWARD CRITERIA: Effective communication of brandʼs message • Creativity • Influence on sales performance • Influence on audience • Impact vs budget
MARKETING TEAM
NINTENDO Nintendoʼs UK marketing division executed massive campaigns for the 3DS, two Mario titles and two Zelda games in 2011. Highlights included early TV spots that showed consumer reactions to their first experience of the 3DS. A second phase over the summer promoted the handheldʼs other features, such as its graphical quality and digital downloads. Wii was boosted by the My First Wii campaign, coinciding with the consoleʼs first price drop. And Nintendo supported its third- party partners by helping to market Just Dance 3 and Zumba Fitness.
SEGA Segaʼs marketing efforts were focused around three campaigns in 2011. Promotions for Sonic Generations were tied in with the 20th Anniversary PR activity, including a celebratory hands-on event at GAME, Oxford Street. The game sponsored The Simpsons on Sky for three months. Meanwhile, music act The Wanted were signed as ambassadors for Mario & Sonic, with additional activity planned with Cadburyʼs and Coca-Cola. Football Manager was promoted through another Sky partnership. It became the highest- selling game of its genre in the past decade.
UBISOFT
The Ubisoft team created some of the most original marketing drives for the likes of Assassinʼs Creed Revelations, Just Dance 3, Driver: San Francisco and Child of Eden. Alongside the usual spate of TV, online and print ads, Revelations was promoted with the ʻUnlock The Animusʼ online competition, which encouraged gamers to explore the world and history of Assassinʼs Creed. The sponsorship of Katy Perryʼs UK tour brought Just Dance 3 to the masses, while partnerships with O2 and Vodafone saw SMS ads driving gamers to the pop-up Child of Eden store in London. Finally, apps like the Driver: San Francisco augmented reality mini- game and Just Dance 3 Autodance app targeted smartphone users.
SCE UK
Sony has described 2011 as a “watershed year” for its marketing team. New talent was recruited to craft and deliver campaigns for all four PlayStation plaforms: PS3, Vita, PSN and PSP. Promotions ranged from the Gran Turismo Academy, which gave one gamer the chance to compete in the Dubai 24hr race, to the Vita Rooms sampling tour. There was the creation of PlayStation Access, a new service targeted at Sonyʼs community. The firm also sponsored Movies on Channel 5 throughout 2011, running bumpers for its hottest releases.
THQ The Saints Row publisher says its comparatively small marketing team has “punched above its weight” over the past 12 months – and itʼs not wrong. It launched the highest-selling new FPS IP of 2011 in Homefront, the second biggest new Wii property with uDraw and grabbed a spot in the Top 10 best-selling games of the year with Saints Row 3. The team ran some of the biggest TV campaigns of the year and was the first games publisher to advertise on Googleʼs Pay Per View service. Its highly creative campaign for Saints Row 3 was a particular highlight.