JAM International Partners, Inc. has brokered a groundbreaking deal between Microsoft Game Studios and Suunto, Inc. for a fully-integrated paid product placement in the highly anticipated Links 2004" golf game coming exclusively to Xbox this November. Suunto, the worlds leading manufacturer of wristop computers that utilize GPS technology for outdoor enthusiasts, will have its brand mark and high-tech Suunto G9 golf wristop computer featured prominently throughout the game. Developed from the best selling golf franchise for the PC, Links 2004" will provide the most real, lifelike and technologically advanced golf experience available on any video game console.
News Release
For More Information:
Michael Oxman
JAM International Partners, Inc.
847.226.4158 Phone
847.681.1972 Fax
moxman@jaminternational.com
Carlos de Leon
Senior PR Manager
Microsoft Game Studios
425.703.3824 Phone
206.412.7110 Mobile
carlosde@microsoft.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JAM International Partners Links"
Microsoft Game Studios With Suunto Brand
Suunto G9 Wristop Computer To Be Featured In Links 2004" For Xbox
CHICAGO, IL (PRWEB) September 15, 2003 – JAM International Partners, Inc. announced today that it has brokered a groundbreaking deal between Microsoft Game Studios and Suunto, Inc. for a fully-integrated paid product placement in the highly anticipated Links 2004" golf game coming exclusively to Xbox this November. Suunto, the worlds leading manufacturer of wristop computers that utilize GPS technology for outdoor enthusiasts, will have its brand mark and high-tech Suunto G9 golf wristop computer featured prominently throughout the game. Developed from the best selling golf franchise for the PC, Links 2004" will provide the most real, lifelike and technologically advanced golf experience available on any video game console.
According to Michael Oxman, Managing Director of JAM International Partners Chicago Office, this deal represents Suuntos first foray into the world of video game product placements. Like many companies looking for ways to increase brand visibility and demonstrate their product features and benefits, Suunto recognized that associating the Suunto G9 with Links 2004" would provide a new, interactive, and non-traditional form of brand communication targeted specifically to golf enthusiasts."
Says Joshua Graff, Managing Director of JAM International Partners London office, ‘Links 2004 is just one of many titles within the growing portfolio of computer and video games that Microsoft Game Studios can offer to companies seeking opportunities to be featured in video games that are endemic to their brands." It was this array of product placement opportunities that led Microsoft Game Studios to enlist the services of JAM International Partners earlier this year as their first outside agency specializing in in-game product placements.
According to Shane Kim, Chief Operating Officer for Microsoft Game Studios, our goal in working with JAM International Partners is to maximize new revenue streams through paid product placements in our games. JAM International Partners is an agency with the kind of expertise we were looking for: we can rely on their talent to secure the brands, negotiate the deals, and help facilitate much of the integration process. We are aggressively working with JAM International Partners to secure deals with numerous other brand companies for games currently in development at Microsoft Game Studios." Kim also noted that internal responsibility for managing the relationship with JAM International Partners is handled by Sandy Ting, Director of Business Development at Microsoft Game Studios.
According to Andrew Ross, Managing Director of JAM International Partners New York office, the magnitude of any paid product placement deal is determined by the complexity of the brand integration within the game. On the basic end of the product placement spectrum are branded billboards and signs that incorporate a logo and/or message, to the more complex placements that fully integrate the brand into the game-play such as the Suunto G9 in Links 2004". Says Eljas Saastamoinen, Golf Product Manager at Suuntos worldwide headquarters in Finland, Were thrilled with the opportunity to feature the Suunto G9 in Links 2004" because the product placement so perfectly reinforces the image of the brand along with its features and benefits. It also provides a great launch platform for the Suunto G9 given the newness of both the product and the entire category of golf instruments".
With offices in New York, London and Chicago, JAM International Partners (http://www.jaminternational.com/) is the leading specialist in the product placement of high-profile brands within computer and video games. Representing leading video game publishers and developers in the United States, Europe and Asia, this unique and innovative company has quickly set the standard for creating paid video game product placements of all kinds in this new and emerging industry.
Xbox (http://www.xbox.com/) is Microsofts future-generation video game system that delivers the most powerful games experience ever. Xbox empowers game artists by giving them the technology to fulfill their creative visions as never before, creating games that blur the lines between fantasy and reality. Xbox is now available in the continents of North America, Europe, Asia and Australia.
Based in Vantaa, Finland, Suunto (http://www.suunto.com/) is the worlds leading manufacturer of wristop computers and field compasses, and is one of the leading manufacturers of diving computers and instruments and water sport suits. Acquired by Amer Group in 1999, a leading global supplier of sporting goods equipment that includes strong global brands such as Wilson, Atomic, Precor and Suunto, the company is listed both in the Helsinki and London Stock Exchanges
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