2007 MI6 Marketing Event Announced

Officials representing the non-profit Association of Electronic Interactive Marketers (AEIM) have officially announced its next annual MI6 Game Marketing Conference, set to take place May 8-9, 2007 in San Francisco. Additionally, AEIM announced a set of initiatives that it will focus on over the course of the coming year. These include an emphasis on increasing brand partner co-marketing and in-game revenues for the game space, developing a comprehensive “best practices” educational plan, working to strengthen a positive public brand image for those companies represented by the group, and fostering new digital partnerships with leaders in other sectors of the entertainment industry. The AEIM also announced that George Harrison, Nintendo of America's senior vice president of marketing and corporate communications, will serve as the group's vice chairman alongside AEIM's existing chairman, Microsoft's Peter Moore, and revealed several new additions to its board of directors. Amongst those added to the group's board were vice chair Will Kassoy, Activision’s senior vice president of global brand management; vice chair, research Bob Aniello, THQ’s senior vice president of marketing; and secretary Tony Key, Ubisoft’s vice president of marketing. Dale Hopkins from the video game focused television network G4 was also named as the vice chair of the association’s video game ad council initiative. Additional board members added include 1UP Network/Ziff Davis’ Ira Becker, Ant Farm’s Cindy Hauser, Capcom’s Charles Bellfield, The Cimarron Group’s Geoff Calnan, DirecTV’s Steve Roberts, Future US’ Jonathan Simpson-Bint, GameTap’s David Reid, IGN’s Dale Strang, Intel’s Tim Takeuchi and Dan Fernandez, Konami's Catherine Fowler, MGM’s Jeff Pryor, Microsoft’s Jeff Bell, Midway Games’ Steve Allison, Nokia’s Kamar Shah, Nvidia’s Bill Rehbock, Piano Wizards’ Chris Salter, Spike TV/MTV Networks’ Dario Spina, Studio City’s Roger Betterton, and Voom HD Networks’ Mark De Angelis. “When I was presented with the opportunity to serve on AEIM’s Board of Directors, I recognized both an obligation to represent the needs and interest of my colleagues in this industry as well as an opportunity to reach out to other marketers in those industries which are crossing over into the gaming realm,” commented Harrison. “AEIM is giving video game marketers a forum from which to become active in determining the future of our business. The time has come for us to speak with the power of a collective voice.”