We’re more than just a PR agency. From media relations to event management, strategic consultancy to digital outreach and most points in between, Boom! is dedicated to creating innovative consumer communications campaigns.

Established in Summer 2009 in London, we are a brand new creative communications agency offering highly strategic and effective solutions to brands based in, and looking to harness the entertainment industry.

We believe in putting Public Relations at the heart of all great communications campaigns in order to derive greater ROE – return on entertainment – for our clients.

And we’re more than just a PR agency. From media relations to event management, strategic consultancy to digital outreach and most points in between, Boom! is dedicated to creating innovative consumer communications campaigns. We like to approach things differently.

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TNT Racers

Boom! has been appointed by one of Germany’s leading games publishers to lead the PR campaign for the UK launch of TNT Racers, a multi-platform video games title.

Hamburg-based dtp entertainment AG develops and publishes entertainment software for all interactive entertainment platforms. Boom! has been briefed to maximise consumer awareness and generate trial of the new racing game which will be online in August 2010 on the Xbox LIVE® online entertainment network, and will appear on PlayStation® Network for PlayStation® 3 and PSP™ (PlayStation®Portable) and on Nintendo Wii™.

Soren Winterfeldt, Senior Product Manager at dtp, said “We were highly impressed with Boom!’s response which demonstrated a real focus on delivering results, a high return on investment and also great creative thinking. We are excited to work with Boom! and look forward to seeing their ideas in action, launching TNT Racers in the UK.”

This appointment follows a series of new business wins for the fast growing consumer and entertainment-focused agency.

These include Supermassive Games, the UK’s largest independent brewer Wells and Young’s and specialist magazine publisher Future UK.

Justin Crosby, Boom!’s founder, said “It’s great to add dtp to our client roster as we strengthen our portfolio in the consumer and entertainment sectors. TNT Racers is a classic action-packed console racing game and we’re looking forward to bringing the title to the attention of online console gamers across the UK.”

Gamer James Richards setting a new World Record at the Golden Joystick Awards 2009

Golden Joystick Awards Case study

Campaign
Golden Joystick Awards 2009

Client
Future UK

Objectives
Achieve 1 million consumer votes for awards
Partner with Future’s in-house PR resource to increase awareness of Golden Joystick Awards among consumers and industry

Strategy & plan
The project was developed as a three-stage campaign for this audience-voted videogames awards event. The first stage was to engage the industry, then motivate videogame communities and finally alert the mainstream audience. The key challenge was to project coverage outside the games specialist media for this historically trade-facing event.

Key to the campaign’s success was the partnership of video games industry stakeholders – especially those with nominations in the awards. Boom! created an awards roadshow and visited the nominated companies to showcase the Awards , providing them with event information and a voting toolkit, designed to assist those who wished to activate their communities in the voting process.

The consumer motivation element of the campaign kicked off with a viral creative. The ‘Great Games Search’ was designed to generate interest and talkability. A complex picture containing visual clues to multiple hidden videogames images was quickly shared around gamers with a ‘Vote now’ call to action. This was supported with a competition mechanic designed to reward the consumers who could identify the most games.

To widen coverage outside the games community, the Boom! team negotiated a number of partnerships with consumer media titles including ShortList, Bliss and MSN in addition to Future’s own GamesRadar, CVG.co.uk and Edge. These partnerships delivered exclusive pre-event feature coverage and were used to drive awareness and voting.

To further strengthen the mainstream news potential of the event, Boom! and Future staged a world record attempt together with event sponsors Lucozade on the morning of the Golden Joystick Awards. The ‘Lucozade Alert Plus Super Sonic Challenge’ saw 21 year old Maidstone gamer James Richards set a new Guinness World Record for completing a level of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 in 22 seconds. Guinness World Record adjudicators and spokespeople were on hand to confirm the record time and Richards was presented with a Guinness World Record certificate as part of the ceremony later that day.

It was important to the campaign to leverage the massive online specialist videogames community. Boom! & Future devised and implemented a blogger outreach programme tailored to supply the needs of the UK’s most influential gaming blogs. This included a dedicated Digital Media Room at the awards event, with key bloggers invited to the show for the first time. A full media schedule for the day was developed for the bloggers which also featured a Q&A session with Future’s key games publishing executives and editors to discuss how to develop a career in games journalism. Exclusive demonstrations by the makers of new blockbuster games titles such as DJ Hero and Tekken 6 were also laid on, giving the bloggers previously unattainable access to games talent.

The climax of the campaign was the Golden Joystick Awards ceremony itself. Media management at the event focused on a backstage media run where mainstream media were provided with opportunities to interview key winners and industry figures. Media attendees included Radio One, Radio Five Live, ITN, XFM, The Guardian and The Sun.

The awards event also featured the presentation of the second Guinness World Record of the day – this time to the Golden Joystick Awards itself, which was recognised as the ‘Worlds Most Popular Video games Awards’ in front of the audience of over 800 industry executives.

Measurement & evaluation

The campaign exceeded the target of 1 million votes by finally reaching 1,223,646 – the biggest haul of votes in the event’s 27 year history.

The campaign generated over 30 pieces of mainstream lifestyle and news print and online coverage, over 50 pieces of specialist & trade media coverage and over 100 specialist games blogs.

Key pieces included The Times, Radio 5Live, BBC Radio One, ITN and CBBC Newsround.

Results

47% increase in voting, beating previous highest voting total by 367,384 votes, highlighting a huge leap in industry engagement and consumer participation.

Significant increase in both pre- and post-event coverage over previous years.

Event recognised as world’s leading video games awards ceremony.

Client quote

“Working with Boom! took the Golden Joystick Awards to a new level. The company’s tenacity and professionalism enabled us to easily reach our target of 1 million votes from the general public, securing our place as the world’s premier public-facing videogames event. Boom! took time to understand the obstacles faced by the awards and provided swift, tailored solutions. I’m looking forward to a long association with Justin Crosby and his team, and already planning our joint campaign for next year’s event.” Emma Parkinson, Publisher Future UK

Bloggers in the Golden Joystick Awards Digital Media Room

Danny Wallace on the media run

James Richards receiving his Guinness World Record from Gaz Deaves, editor of Guinness World Records; Gamers Edition

TV interviews in the media run

Justin created the global PR strategy for Philips in their role as Global Lighting Partner for the event and co ordinated activity around the world with local affiliates. He also created a partnership with Pussycat Dolls, one of the stars of the London show – one of the first shows to take place at the reopened Wembley stadium. The partnership resulted in broadcast and print PR coverage, ensuring Philips sponsorship delivering return on investment through editorial coverage.

We’ve been briefed to support the brand’s new advertising campaign that aims to build awareness for its iconic ‘Take Courage’ slogan.
Boom! will provide social media strategic consultancy and traditional media outreach to build awareness for the campaign which aims to celebrate Courage’s rich heritage and role at the heart of pub conversations.

Joanna Dring, PR Manager for Wells and Young’s and one of PR Week’s current ‘29 under 29′ said “Boom! showed a strong understanding of the market and the consumer, and came up with a robust strategic approach and an insightful creative platform. We’re excited to see the results of this campaign and look forward to working closely with the agency in this exciting phase of the Courage brand’s development”.

“We’re delighted to have been appointed by the UK’s largest independent brewer to work with an iconic British beer. Utilising social media and traditional channels, we’ll be reconnecting Courage with its loyal and passionate following.” said Justin Crosby, Boom!’s founder.
The Courage brand has over 200 years of brewing pedigree across it’s ever popular Courage Best Bitter brand and premium cask ale Courage Directors.

Our appointment coincides with our first birthday and our move to new offices in Clerkenwell.

We’ve been briefed to support the brand’s new advertising campaign that aims to build awareness for its iconic ‘Take Courage’ slogan.
Boom! will provide social media strategic consultancy and traditional media outreach to build awareness for the campaign which aims to celebrate Courage’s rich heritage and role at the heart of pub conversations.

Joanna Dring, PR Manager for Wells and Young’s and one of PR Week’s current ‘29 under 29′ said “Boom! showed a strong understanding of the market and the consumer, and came up with a robust strategic approach and an insightful creative platform. We’re excited to see the results of this campaign and look forward to working closely with the agency in this exciting phase of the Courage brand’s development”.

“We’re delighted to have been appointed by the UK’s largest independent brewer to work with an iconic British beer. Utilising social media and traditional channels, we’ll be reconnecting Courage with its loyal and passionate following.” said Justin Crosby, Boom!’s founder.
The Courage brand has over 200 years of brewing pedigree across it’s ever popular Courage Best Bitter brand and premium cask ale Courage Directors.

Our appointment coincides with our first birthday and our move to new offices in Clerkenwell.

Leading UK video games developer Supermassive Games™ today announces the Autumn 2010 release of ‘Big Match Striker’, a unique and free to play downloadable PC football game where real fans battle head to head in the ultimate championship of tactics and trivia.

Players will need to combine all the skills of chairman, manager, player and fan as the title blends the best in football management strategy and animated trivia games. The exciting new title is highly competitive and will challenge all levels of football fans knowledge and strategic skills as they battle in one-on-one leagues to meet the games main objectives – to win titles and silverware, and attract more fans to their club.

Players succeed by answering a selection of both constantly updated and historic football questions from English football’s top four tiers keeping the game concurrent with the real life action.  Players can win possession and tackle the opposition by responding quicker to questions, requiring a decent level of football knowledge and quick thinking.

The reward of winning matches is gaining fans and in-game currency. This can be strategically used to buy players, upgrade stadiums and even install hot dog vans to attract more fans and progress to the leagues higher echelons.

“With a fun, entertaining and humorous style, ‘Big Match Striker’ is a new kind of game and we think it will appeal to football fans of all ages and persuasions” commented Supermassive’s Online Publishing Director Geraint Bungay. “The only requirements are a PC, an internet connection and a love of football. Our vision is to become the online destination of choice for football fans to contest, celebrate and share their knowledge and passion for the beautiful game.”

Player interaction will be a key aspect of the game experience. The games main entry point and community will be hosted online and will contain regular news and features from the game’s editorial team, weekly podcasts with lively chat and debate on the game’s latest talking points and discussion forums for players to interact with each other. The initial game download and subsequent updates will be available from the game website.

Key features

Question Engine: One of the games unique features, an innovative and unrivalled question generator with a resource of thousands of football questions. It is updated daily with latest news and results from the English football league ensuring the game remains up to date with the real life football action. Categories are: Up-to-date Premier League, Up-to-date Championship, Up-to-date League 1, Up-to-date League 2, Player and Team records, World Cup 2010, World Cup Historic (1930 – 2006), Recent League Historic (last five years), Older League Historic (more than 5 years ago) and Trivia.

Big Match Bucks: Effectively your ‘wallet’ for buying additional stamina to play more matches in more competitions, or to exchange for in-game currency ‘Smackers’.

Smackers: The in-game currency which players accumulate as they win matches. The currency is a key part of developing and growing a club, as they can be spent on various assets such as larger stadiums, improved infrastructure, stamina, and new players.

The Community: There will be a website acting as the game’s entry point and the home of the game’s community, buzzing with players discussing all things football. As well as forums and chat rooms, there will be regular news and features stories from the games editorial team.

Weekly Podcasts: A specially created weekly podcast will be available for free download featuring latest news and gossip and lively chat covering all the football worlds latest talking points.

Player Stamina: As in the real life game, stamina on the pitch can only last so long. There are two main ways to manage stamina levels; topping up with Big Match Bucks, and staggering games to ensure that stamina is not used up too quickly.

Trophy Cabinet: Each player has a cabinet where they store their winnings.

Club Strategy: It’s not just a game of football knowledge, players are rewarded for effective management of all their strategic club assets. These include stadium expansion plans, revenue streams such as catering, merchandise and team playing tactics.

League Seasons: Each League season lasts three weeks in real time, creating the pressure and excitement level of any league competition whilst allowing enough time for each player to play the game as and when best suits them.

Artificial Intelligence: Whenever a player plays a match the evolving AI system stores their success and measures their playing style across all question categories, including speed and accuracy, and mimics the player’s behaviour when an opponent plays against them allowing players to play when they wish, not when their opponent is also available.

Challenge your friends: Players can invite their friends, monitor their progress and compare performances, current league standings, and number of fans.

Quality graphics: Compared to many online free to play downloadable games the graphics and quality of the game are far superior.

Specialist cup competitions: There will be various cup competitions for players to enter and demonstrate their skills and knowledge. These cup competitions are played alongside your normal league games, just like the real football leagues.

Commentary: Adding to the friendly and fun challenge, the commentary is supplied by an in game commentator, adding a twist of banter and humour.

You will play a leading role in driving audience engagement for our consumer and entertainment brand clients in the social media space. You’ll have a strong grasp and demonstrable knowledge of social media, being immersed in it personally as well as professionally.

An experienced user of social media platforms, you will be a natural online publicist. You’ll have experience of running social media campaigns for consumer brands and will be an expert in instigating and participating in valuable consumer conversations on behalf of our clients.

You will be able to produce excellent written materials and understand the importance of creating engaging content and maintaining the appropriate etiquette. You will have a broad experience with a variety of monitoring and evaluation tools and may also have some basic HTML and image manipulation skills.

In addition to your social media expertise, you’ll have accumulated a detailed knowledge of the traditional media’s editorial agenda, having built relationships with consumer & trade media and key bloggers. You’ll have a strong agency track record in traditional consumer lifestyle campaigns, either as Account Executive or Account Manager.

This is a great opportunity to make a name for yourself and play a key role in a new agency. If you are a self-starter with a hands-on approach to work and a passion for digital communications then we’d like to hear from you. In return we offer a competitive salary, the opportunity to work on some great brands and excellent career potential.

Position Responsibilities:

• Develop and implement social media campaigns, in line with agreed client objectives
• Develop and manage the online presence of clients on social networks and forums
• Monitor and participate in online conversations using a range of free and paid-for tools
• Identify the relevant influencers, advocates and detractors in a range of communities
• Train and support clients in social media best practice and participation strategies
• Monitor media and liaise with traditional and new media contacts on a daily basis
• Devise and deploy acquisition strategies/ incentives to encourage fans and followers to our clients’ social media profiles
• Craft excellent written materials on behalf of our clients including campaign documents, proposals, press releases, presentations, status reports, evaluation reports
• Support the agency team at live events, i.e. press conferences, corporate events, photo calls
• Play a key role in contributing to digital aspects of the agency’s new business pitches
• Present effectively in a variety of situations
• Using Wordpress, upload a regular blog and news and onto the agency website

Position Requirements:

• Experience in leveraging social media on behalf of clients
• Good understanding of internet principles and best practices
• Excellent copywriting abilities
• Attention to detail is critical
• Proven track record of generating impressive online media coverage
• Comprehensive understanding of social media and functionality of the key social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook and MySpace
• Administration or moderation experience in forums and online communities
• MS Office, Keynote, Photoshop
• Confident user of Apple Mac computers
• Familiar with web analytics software (Google Analytics, Webtrends or Omniture)
• Good understanding of how to measure and monitor conversations online
• Excellent time management and prioritisation
• Willingness to learn and proactive approach to acquiring responsibility
• A finisher/completer with high level of personal ownership of team performance
• Self-driven, results orientated with a positive outlook, and a clear focus of high quality and business profit

Desired Experience:

• A knowledge of video gaming and gaming communities
• Familiar with a structured campaign planning process
• Consumer brand client experience
• Basic HTML, and experience using Wordpress or similar CMS
• Good image manipulation and demonstrable design skills in new media
• Experience with SEO management and best practices

Please email your application with a covering letter to justin@boomdialogue.com

Closing date for applications: 30^th June 2010

The Agency reserves the right to vary this job description in consultation with the post holder

This job description is current as of the date shown below.  In consultation with the post holder, it is liable to variation, to reflect or anticipate changes in the job.

You will play a leading role in promoting our consumer and entertainment brand clients in the media. You have an accumulated knowledge of the media’s editorial agenda, having built relationships with consumer & trade media and key bloggers. You’re creative and can craft captivating angles, stories and materials that stimulate interest in the media and generate standout media coverage for our clients.

We’re looking for someone who’s smart and tenacious, with a nose for news. You’re a consummate professional who demonstrates grace under pressure. Well-connected and familiar with both traditional & new media, you will have a strong track record of generating positive coverage.

With existing agency experience under your belt, you will have worked with consumer lifestyle and/or video games brands. However, just as important as experience and ability is attitude. If you’re a tenacious, creative, self-motivated PR professional looking for rapid career progression we want to hear from you.

Position Responsibilities:

• Monitor media and liaise with traditional and new media contacts on a daily basis
• Craft excellent written materials on behalf of our clients including campaign documents, press releases, presentations, status reports, evaluation reports.
• Write comprehensive briefing documents for agency suppliers
• Lead event planning and management i.e. press conferences, corporate events, launches, photo calls
• Play a key role in contributing to the agency’s new business pitches
• Commission and analyse research including surveys and focus groups
• Develop and implement PR programmes in line with agreed client objectives and strategy, and develop contingency plans
• Work in collaboration with senior agency staff to maintain excellent levels of client management and relationships
• Manage all financial aspects of your client, including fees, budget management, invoicing
• Organise and chair internal, client and supplier meetings
• Present effectively in a variety of situations

Position Requirements:

• Consumer brand client experience
• Proven track record of generating impressive media coverage & genuine passion for all aspects of the media
• Excellent oral and written communication skills
• Self-driven, results orientated with a positive outlook, and a clear focus of high quality and business profit
• Willingness to learn and proactive approach to acquiring responsibility
• Attention to detail
• Can perform well under pressure and turn around written documents quickly
• Experience in leveraging social media on behalf of clients
• Excellent time management and prioritisation
• A completer/ finisher with high level of personal ownership of team performance

Desired Experience:

• Familiar with a structured campaign planning process
• Video game industry PR experience

Please email your application with a covering letter to justin@boomdialogue.com

Closing date for applications: 30^th June 2010

The Agency reserves the right to vary this job description in consultation with the post holder

This job description is current as of the date shown below.  In consultation with the post holder, it is liable to variation, to reflect or anticipate changes in the job.

We will handle media relations for the project including seeding with key opinion formers, social media activity and developing media partnerships. The campaign kicks off with immediate effect.

The as yet unannounced release for the Guildford-based studio is a unique, persistent online title and showcases the innovation that Supermassive has become renowned for in console-based game development.

The win follows the agency’s recent reappointment by Future UK to handle the PR for the biggest night in the videogames industry’s calendar – the 28th annual Golden Joystick Awards.

Geraint Bungay, Supermassive’s Online Publishing Director said “Boom! demonstrated a real understanding of the market, the personas of our target audience and some strong creative ideas. We’re looking forward to working closely with the agency to launch this unique new property”.

“We’re focused on utilising both social media and traditional channels to build awareness and a community around the launch of a revolutionary new title from Supermassive Games. We’re delighted to have been appointed” said Justin Crosby, founder of Boom!

Boom! was founded in Summer 2009 by Justin Crosby who has over 15 years experience working in the games and entertainment industries creating award winning campaigns for brands such as Microsoft Xbox, Activision, Eidos, Carling, Philips Electronics and Miller Genuine Draft.