UFI, the global association of the exhibition industry, has named Cologne’s gamescom as winner of the 2023 UFI Marketing Awar, an award that has been recognising exemplary marketing initiatives since 2001.
gamescom is the largest gaming festival worldwide held annually and is jointly organised by Koelnmesse and game – the German Games Industry Association.
This year’s award programme invited marketing experts in the exhibition industry to share their project on the topic, ‘The big picture: getting back to business and winning the future with strategic marketing’. The award recognised the marketing strategy that best demonstrated how companies can apply various levers, such as product, pricing, communications, sales, digital services, partnering etc., to deliver measurable impact on a trade show’s performance. The criteria chosen for a winning marketing strategy was its
ability to overcome market challenges in the short term, while helping the show develop over the coming three to five years.
“Strategy is as much important as an ability to adapt to unforeseen circumstances. Re-forging the successful event with new, hybrid approaches, strong partnerships, engaged audience both from the public as well as the game development industry and clear vision of the organising team of what gamescom is – made the marketing strategy effective and is what brought the UFI Marketing Award 2023 to Cologne,” said Dorota Wallusch, chair of the UFI Marketing Working Group.
Tim Endres, director, gamescom added: “On behalf of Koelnmesse and our partner and co-organiser game – the German Games Industry Association, I would like to express how thrilled we are to win the UFI Marketing Award caused by the successful positioning of gamescom in the market and ensuring its sustainability for the future. Our strategic focus on digital measures at the right time and early preparation for the re-start has been instrumental in our achievements. Throughout this journey, we have consistently maintained close communication with the gaming community and gaming companies, understanding their needs and providing them with the appropriate formats. I would like to extend my gratitude to our partners, exhibitors, and sponsors for their unbelievable support. Their efforts, combined with the dedicated team at game and Koelnmesse have been integral to our achievements."
The jury also recognised two finalists for the quality of their submission: Targi w Krakowie (Poland) – Book Fair in Krakow and IBTM World RX Global (UK) – IBTM 2022 Campaign.
All the finalists had presented their projects to the jury around the UFI European Conference in Maastricht (The Netherlands), June 2023. After the presentations, the jury selected gamescom as the winner.
More information on the UFI Awards is available at www.ufi.org/awards/.
The UFI Award winners will share their projects at the 90th UFI Global Congress, which will take place from 1-4 November 2023 in Las Vegas (USA). For more details on the UFI Global Congress, please visit www.uficongress.org/
