TIGA, the trade association representing the UK gamesindustry, has won a major award for its public relation campaign work.
The organisation was the winner in the Outstanding Public
Relations Campaign category of the Global Business Excellence Awards. It followed a sustained and successful four-year campaign to
persuade the government to hand tax relief to the videogames industry.The judges praised TIGA for its “well-planned and
executed PR campaign” and said it was particularly outstanding given that
it was manned by a staff of just three people
TIGA achieved its aim in March 2010 when then Labour
chancellor Alistair Darling announced plans for tax relief.But Conservative chancellor George Osborne said the original
plans had been “poorly targeted” and scrapped them. He then introduced Games
Tax Relief in the 2012 Budget.TIGA research shows that Games Tax Relief should generate
and safeguard 4,661 direct and indirect jobs and £188 million in investment
expenditure by studios.It estimates that it will increase the games development
sector’s contribution to UK GDP by £283 million, generate £172 million in new
and protected tax receipts to HM Treasury, and could cost just £96 million over
five years.
Andrew Areoff, the chairman of the judges said: “TIGA, the trade association for the UK video games
industry, played its best hand when persuading the Government to give the
industry Games Tax Relief (GTR).
“Despite the recession when you would expect the
government to be keen to hold onto its income, TIGA won its case. This was an extremely well planned and
executed PR campaign; and highly efficient as well.
“With a staff of only three, TIGA invested £95,184 in
the publicity drive and won a GTR tax break worth £96 million over five years –
an excellent return on investment. Now the UK video games industry is on a
level playing field with its competitor countries.”
Dr Richard Wilson, CEO of TIGA, said:
“We were the only trade association to consistently
campaign for a tax relief for games production for four years and it was
something we wholeheartedly believed in.
“During that time, we built a strong case and gathered
compelling and strong evidence and we could see the change in tone from the
government which encouraged us to keep pushing. Without games tax relief, the
UK would have continued to see a brain drain abroad and that was something we
were desperate to prevent. We are delighted our hard work has been
recognised.”
Notes to editors:About TIGA:
TIGA is the trade association representing the UK’s games industry. The
majority of our members are either independent games developers or in-house
publisher owned developers. We also have games publishers, outsourcing
companies, technology businesses and universities amongst our membership. TIGA won 10 business awards and was
nominated a finalist for 9 other awards during 2010 and 2011. In 2010 TIGA won two business awards including
‘Trade Association of the Year’ from the Trade Association Forum.
In 2011, TIGA
won eight business awards including ‘Trade Association of the Year’ from the
Trade Association Forum, ‘Outstanding Organisation’ from the Chartered
Management Institute and two Global Business Excellence Awards, including
‘Outstanding Marketing Campaign’.
Richard Wilson won the ‘Leadership Award’ from the Trade Association
Forum and the ‘Outstanding Leader’ award from the Chartered Management
Institute. TIGA is an Investors in People organisation.TIGA's vision is to make the UK
the best place in the world to do games business.
We focus on three sets
of activities: political representation, generating media coverage and
developing services that enhance the competitiveness of our members. This
means that TIGA members are effectively represented in the corridors of power,
their voice is heard in the media and they receive benefits that make a
material difference to their businesses, including a reduction in costs and
improved commercial opportunities.
For further
information, please contact Dr Richard Wilson, TIGA CEO on: 07875 939 643, or
email richard.wilson@tiga.org.