The folks at Game Connection are preparing to put on their next game industry networking event on their home turf, taking place December 3-5 in Paris. The event will feature the third edition of the Game Connection Marketing Awards, a program aimed at honoring efforts in just about every marketing category, from broadcast, print and PR to social, digital and experiential. They do have a few twists as far as traditional game industry and advertising awards go. Game Connection is once again forgoing fees. It costs nothing to enter or, in the case of winners, receive those spiffy Emmy-like trophies. Also for these upcoming Europe awards, any work done between January 2012 until the end of August 2013 is eligible – to make sure no one thinks that’s a misprint, that’s any work done over nearly the past year and a half.

The biggest twist for anyone just now finding out about these awards is that the deadline is coming fast. While the process to enter is fairly painless – it’s completely digital – all entries must be submitted through the Game Connection awards site by Monday, September 9.   

We talked with Giulia Palmieri, who sports the nifty title “marketing and communications Jedi” at Game Connection, about their experience with past awards and who should enter these upcoming ones.

The deadline is looming, and I bet there are people still procrastinating. Let’s get everyone mobilized – who should be excited about these awards, and why should they submit their work?

Well, everybody should be excited about these awards! In fact, we don’t mind if you are a professional working as a freelance, within the ranks of an in-house marketing team or at an agency. As far as you worked on the launch or the promotion of a game, you are invited to show off and apply to our awards! Reasons are several: first, there is no entry fee and it’s a perfect occasion to showcase your talent and gain extra visibility among your peers. Second, because if you happen to be a finalist, you get free access to Game Connection [Paris] for the awards ceremony, where you’ll be able to share information, inspiration and insight about the business of video game marketing . . . without forgetting the fun! 

With this third edition of the Game Connection Marketing Awards on the horizon, it’s safe to say you’ve had success with launching them. Tell me about the experience and what it’s been like for Game Connection to not just branch into awards, but also the marketing side of the industry.

We are really happy about the response that companies have given us for our previous editions. Having approached this specific audience was a good catch. Game Connection is now an event that offers a full experience of the production pipeline, without neglecting any player within our beautiful industry. More and more marketers are now coming to the show as exhibitors and visitors, because after having taken part in these awards, they saw the real potential of Game Connection as a unique marketplace where time is never wasted and the networking is worth gold. That’s why we are keeping our feet on the gas by providing more and more content dedicated to marketing professionals during our upcoming edition in Paris. 

Give us some highlights of the first two awards.

It was a hell of a ride! Last year in Paris, we were extremely satisfied to see among our nominees not only AAA publishers’ teams but also smaller and very talented companies, in the case of neoco for example, a London agency that won the Best Social Media Campaign with Borderlands 2. During our Game Connection in San Francisco, we saw again on the battlefield real giants such as Ayzenberg and Midnight Oil Creative face incredible teams such as Iam8bit, Armed Mind and ichi. I think that one of the elements that made the difference was having an incredible jury to pick the best projects. Some members renewed their interest in the initiative and joined the board again. Here a few names, for example: Antony Macaré , head of digital at Namco Bandai Games, Alexandre Scriabine, acquisition marketing at EA, Dennis Heinert, head of PR at Innogames, Steve Fowler, head of global marketing at ArenaNet, and Rupert Loman, CEO at Gamer Network.

What has Game Connection learned from running a marketing awards program?

We are learning to be more specific. The companies themselves expressed this need. For example, we have now a general category for all broadcast campaigns, where gameplay trailers are right next to live action ones. Now that our Marketing Awards are still earning their place on the red carpet, it’s not yet an issue, but as we count on becoming as big as the Academy, we’ll certainly need to add more precise categories in the future. 

What else are you planning that’s geared towards game marketers?

We are really putting the extra effort on the speakers’ lineup. Game Connection Europe will offer a conference program packed expressly for marketers, because we want people to understand that our show is not only a business goldmine, but also the right place to level-up with industry experts and be always informed on the latest market trends and technology innovations. 

Game Connection is at the epicenter of indie game development. Do you still see a divide between game developers and marketers, and if so what will it take to overcome that?

Well, I don’t see a real division, as indies are slowly becoming marketers – whether they like it or not. I mean, they are no longer developers only. If you want your game to be spotted, you need to improve your business skills and remember that marketing is not an option.

Any final thoughts or other major events from GC we should know about?

If we want to stay on the indies subject, I’d like to mention our famous Selected Projects Program. Deadline is on September 6th.  Those that are willing to pitch their games in front of major publishers shouldn’t miss this chance. (Application is here.) I’d like to remind that one of the most downloaded apps on the App Store, Badland from Frogmind as well as the upcoming PS4 game Contrast from Compulsion Games were first spotted at Game Connection. So, it’s really worth the try!