GT Academy 2010 Wins Golden Lion at Prestigious Cannes Festival of Creativity
By Nissan Europe And Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, PRNETuesday, June 21, 2011
CANNES, France, June 22, 2011 -
Nissan Europe and Sony Computer Entertainment Europe’s GT
Academy 2010 programme has been honoured at the prestigious annual
gathering of the advertising and marketing industries at Cannes.
The second series of the virtual-to-real racer competition was
awarded a coveted Golden Lion for ‘Best Use of Branded Content’ at
the 58th International Festival of Creativity.
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The GT Academy 2010 TV series was picked up by over 160
broadcasters worldwide and generated hundreds of digital and paper
column inches of media coverage. The Gran Turismo game demo
required to enter the competition - a preview of the hugely
successful Gran Turismo®5 - was downloaded over 1.3 million times
in the participating territories.
The competition ran in 17 countries throughout Europe, as well
as Australia and New Zealand. The 20 fastest gamers from each
territory gathered for national finals events with 18 graduating to
the Academy itself at Silverstone for a series of driving, physical
and mental challenges. Frenchman Jordan Tresson beat the field and
was trained to international racing standard before participating
in the European GT4 Cup in a Nissan 370Z.
A series of five 24-minute TV episodes charted the action as the
PlayStation gamers vied to become a real racing driver. A social
media, advertising and PR campaign supported the programme.
The inaugural GT Academy in 2008 was won by 23-year-old Spanish
student Lucas Ordoñez. Lucas raced in the LMP2 class at this year’s
Le Mans 24 Hours and took second place with his Signatech Nissan
Team. His journey from PlayStation®3 gamer to the Le Mans podium in
less than three years is a clear demonstration of the strength of
the Academy.
Having received the award, Nissan International’s European chief
marketing manager for sports cars, Darren Cox, commented: “It’s
great to receive this prestigious award only 10 days after our
historical podium at the Le Mans 24 Hours with our first GT Academy
winner and only a few days after our new 2011 winner was announced
at Silverstone. It is testament to the ongoing success of the
programme, a success that has taken five years of effort by a
small, committed group of individuals. The Academy is a true
example of Nissan’s ‘Innovation and Excitement for Everyone’ while
we are also very proud that it is a joint initiative with an
excellent partner in PlayStation.”
Sony Computer Entertainment’s Mark Bowles, who developed the
concept with Darren Cox, added: “This is recognition for what has
been an exciting, but challenging five years developing this
project and delivering great content across multiple channels.
PlayStation is all about delivering rich, innovative
experiences and our close partnership with Nissan on GT Academy has
enabled us to change the lives of two gamers, who can both now call
themselves professional race drivers. GT Academy continues to
grow due to the passion of all those involved and I am very excited
about watching the progress of our latest winner as his journey
begins.”
Jann Mardenborough, a 19-year-old from Wales, has just been
announced as the GT Academy 2011 winner. He will now embark on an
intensive training programme before entering the prestigious Dubai
24 Hour race in January, 2012 in a full, race-spec Nissan 370Z.
Series three of the programme will air across Europe this
Autumn.
You can follow GT Academy 2011 on
and
For more information, please contact your local PlayStation or
Nissan PR manager.
Additional notes:
About the Gran Turismo®
Franchise
With more than 60 million units shipped worldwide, the
award-winning Gran Turismo®franchise for the PlayStation® ,
PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system, PlayStation®3 and PSP
(PlayStation® Portable) is regarded as the best and most authentic
driving simulator ever created due to its true-to-life graphics,
authentic physics technology and design. Since the inception of the
Gran Turismo franchise, famed creator Kazunori Yamauchi and
Polyphony Digital Inc. in Japan have revolutionized the racing
category as we know it today. His offerings provide the most
realistic driving simulation in the industry and a unique medium
for automotive manufacturers to showcase their products.
Gran Turismo®5 was released on 24 November, 2010 and sold 5.5
million units worldwide in its first two weeks on sale. The ninth
instalment of the world’s best-selling racing franchise features a
completely new physics engine for an improved feel for steering
during turns and drifts, delivering a more intuitive driving
experience than ever before. The gamealso features an
impressive line-up of more than 1,000 licensed cars from the
world’s top manufacturers. Other innovative features include
stereoscopic 3D support, real-time car damage, dynamic weather
effects and a deep online and community feature set where players
can race online with up to 16 competitors through
PlayStation®Network. With the widest scope and depth of
gameplay options in the Gran Turismo series, Gran Turismo
5 offers users an entertainment experience that is only
possible on PS3.
Gran Turismo clothing and merchandise is now available on
About Sony Computer Entertainment
Europe Ltd
Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE), based in London, is
responsible for the distribution, marketing and sales of
PlayStation®3, PlayStation®2, PSP™ (PlayStation®Portable) and
PlayStation®Network software and hardware in 99 territories across
Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Oceania. SCEE also develops,
publishes, markets and distributes entertainment software for these
formats, and manages the third party licensing programs for the
formats in these territories. Since the launch of PlayStation 3 in
November 2006, 47.9 million units have been sold globally and
continue to be sold at a record level. Maintaining its
position as one of the most successful consumer electronic products
in history, PlayStation 2 has sold over 149.8million systems
worldwide. Since its launch at the end of 2004, over 67.8
million PSPs have been sold globally, highlighting the importance
of the portable entertainment market. With the huge increase
in interest and accessibility of network applications and network
gaming, more than 69 million accounts have registered to
PlayStation Network, the free-to-access interactive environment,
and over 1.43 billion items have been downloaded.
More information about PlayStation products can be found at
www.playstation.com.
PlayStation, the PlayStation logo are registered trademarks of
Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. PS3 and PSP are trademarks of Sony
Computer Entertainment Inc. All other trademarks are property of
their respective owners.
About Nissan in Europe
Nissan has one of the most comprehensive European presences of
any overseas manufacturer, employing more than 12,500 staff across
locally-based design, research & development, manufacturing,
logistics and sales & marketing operations. Last year Nissan
plants in the UK, Spain and Russia produced more than 528,000
vehicles including mini-MPVs, award-winning crossovers, SUVs and
commercial vehicles. Nissan now offers 24 diverse and innovative
products for sale in Europe today, and is positioned to become the
number one Japanese brand in Europe.
For rights free images please visit
Sara Legouge Phone +41-21-822-59-13, For video content visit International media relations: Glen.Gibson at Jardine-International.com / +44-20-8607-3900
Tags: Cannes, France, June 22, Nissan Europe And Sony Computer Entertainment Europe
