The winners of the “Game Connection Marketing Awards presented by [a]list daily” were announced last night at a ceremony held at the culmination of [a]list summit San Francisco. Moments before nominees took the stage, V for Vendetta director James McTeigue had wrapped up his keynote looking at the growing influence of games on film and culture. It was only fitting that what immediately followed was some of the best the industry had to offer over the past year, both in the games represented and the creativity that went into marketing each of them.

The awards marked the debut of Game Connection’s awards in the U.S. Last November in Paris, organizers launched their Europe awards program aimed at game marketers of all stripes, from big publishers to agencies and independent developers. That same spirit was part of the call for entries in the U.S. Like the Europe awards, Game Connection and [a]list daily decided to forego entry fees to broaden the field of entrants. There were also three new categories introduced for the U.S. awards as part of [a]list daily’s sponsorship, with one recognizing the best campaign in the growing field of original content marketing along with awards for best overall campaign and marketer of the year. The list of finalists had surprise nominees such as KIXEYE, Oculus Rift and Nemesys Games going up against the biggest games of last year. Even though giant multiple nominee Halo 4 was shut out, in the end when it came to the winners, size seemed to matter.

Winners and runners up of the 2013 awards are as follows:

Best Broadcast Campaign 

Winner: ichi for THQ with Metro: Last Light

Runners up:

Telltale Games with The Walking Dead
TAKEOFF CSH for Ubisoft with Assassin’s Creed III Official Animus Trailer

 

Best Digital Campaign

Winner: TBWA/Gamelab for McDonald’s China with Angry Brids Magic in McDonald’s

Runners up:

Ayzenberg Group for KIXEYE with KIXEYE’s Website
Riot Games with League of Legends splash screens

 

Best Print Campaign

Winner: Ayzenberg Group for Microsoft with Contre Jour pop-up press kit

Runners up:

Microsoft with Halo 4 E3 OOH
Ayzenberg Group for Warner Bros. with Guardians of Middle Earth E3 posters

 

Best Experiential Campaign 

Winner: iam8bit for Bethesda Softworks with Dishonored “Boyle Party”

Runners up:

Ideactif agency for Ubisoft with the Rocksmith tour
Microsoft with Halo 4 Liechtenstein launch event

Best Mobile Campaign

Winner: Midnight Oil Creative for Square Enix with Tomb Raider Scavenger Hunt

Runners up:

Fishlabs Entertainment for The Coca-Cola Company with Fanta Fruit Slam
Matmi for Warwick Davis with PocketWarwick

Best PR Campaign

Winner: Midnight Oil Creative for Ubisoft with Far Cry 3 

Runners up:

Neology/The Redner Group for Oculus VR with Oculus Rift launch campaign
Crytek Istanbul with Crytek Istanbul press launch event
appsasia for Korea Mobile Internet Business Association with Mobile App Global Challenge

 

Best Social Media Campaign

Winner: Sandbox Strategies for Activision with Activision’s Family Game Summit

Runners up:

Microsoft with Halo 4 Soundtrack DJ and Fan Remix program
Nemesys Games with Pursued: Street View game campaign

 

Best Original Content Campaign presented by [a]list daily

Winner: Armed Mind for Activision Blizzard with Call of Duty: Black Ops II “Rightful King” Kindle short story

Runners up:

Secret Power for Square Enix with Hitman Trilogy artwork
Microsoft with Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn

Best Overall Marketing Campaign presented by [a]list daily

Winner: Midnight Oil Creative for Activision with Skylanders Giants

Runners up:

Telltale Games with The Walking Dead
Microsoft with Halo 4

 

Best Marketing Team of the Year presented by [a]list daily

Midnight Oil Creative