The 2016 Game Marketing Association winners have been announced, celebrating the most entertaining, humorous and creative promotions for video games. Marketer association and awards host, PromaxBDA, revealed all the winners via Twitter today.
Microsoft was a big winner, with its Rise of the Tomb Raider promotions, done in collaboration with Square Enix, taking home many awards. Other fan favorites include Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege, Call of Duty: Black Ops III‘s Hack In Black and Madden NFL 16 (with its hilarious Madden the Movie promotion) picking up several awards.
There were several categories that the awards covered, including Best Live Action Promotional Content (which Star Wars: Battlefront won); Best Use of Music In a Promotional Video (which Fallout 4‘s “The Wanderer” from Dion took easily); and Best Cool Sh*t (yes, that’s the actual name of the award ), and Rise of the Tomb Raider‘s Original Art Series took it with ease.
Highlighted categories and first-place winners include:
Outstanding TV Or Theatrical Ad
Legend of the Last Lava Pup
Clash of Clans: Legend of the Last Lava Pup benefitted greatly from star power, featuring Academy Award winner Christophe Waltz and Late Late Show host James Corden.
Outstanding Promotional Trailer
Rainbow Six Siege: Siege the Day, Ubisoft
Once again, star power makes all the difference, as actor Idris Elba dramatically walks players through what to expect from Siege.
Best Live Action Promotional Content
Star Wars Battlefront – Become More Powerful
With help from its many fans (and actress Anna Kendrick), EA grasped the Force for this effective advertisement.
Outstanding Overall Marketing Campaign of the Year
Fallout 4 Campaign
Bethesda sold millions of copies of Fallout 4 thanks to a very lucrative and effective advertising campaign.
Best Use Of ESports
Heroes of the Dorm
Heroes of the Dorm not only helped put eSports on the television map, but also pushed ESPN to do more coverage in competition.
Best Digital Marketing Campaign
Rise of the Tomb Raider: Survival Billboard
Survival Billboard paid off for Microsoft, adding a unique survival angle that reflects Tomb Raider‘s raw nature.
Best Use of Social Media Campaign
Call of Duty Hack In Black
The latest Call of Duty promotion was a big hit across many social channels.
Best Promotional Partnership
Mad Max Uber
WB Interactive and Uber paired together nicely to give several people rides in Mad Max-inspired rides.
Most Effective Buzz Generating Tactic
Halo 5: Guardians “A Hero Falls”
The thought of Master Chief being wiped out of the Halo universe devastated fans, and drove plenty of buzz for the hit sequel.
Marketing Team Of The Year
Microsoft Xbox won for Marketing Team of the Year, with its campaigns for Halo 5: Guardians and Rise of the Tomb Raider among others.
