GeForce 6800 Launch Event
Winners Selected!

What Happened?

This summer, 30 members of the NVIDIA Game Center Alliance program were selected to participate in a nationwide launch event to showcase the brand new GeForce 6800 GT GPU.  Each of the 30 centers was provided a video card featuring the GeForce 6800 GT GPU, along with product demos, posters, a banner, and some additional marketing materials.  Given free reign over 4 weeks, each center was challenged to promote the new GPU through its own unique marketing channels: in-store and web advertising, local print and TV coverage, and promotional launch events. 

What was at stake?

Of the 30 centers participating, only 10% would advance to the medal round.  Judged by members of the NVIDIA Marketing team at our Santa Clara headquarters, these top three centers would take home new graphics cards powered by the GeForce 6800 GT GPU.  First place received 20 video cards, second received 10, and third place got 5 GeForce 6800 GT’s.

Picking the Winner

It was very challenging for these centers to put together marketing campaigns in such short time, but it was also difficult to narrow the field to the top three centers.  But in the end, there could be only one winner – scroll down to find out who participated, and who won!

The Contenders:

CyberJocks – Amherst, NY
www.cyberjocks.com

Highlights:

• News stories published in 3 papers, including the Buffalo News (ranked 49th in the nation in readership!)
• Created and distributed over 4,000 flyers
• Hosted weekly sold out LANs, donating proceeds to charity
• Attended local events with NVIDIA-powered “LAN VAN”

Cyber LAN – Chattanooga, TN
www.thecyberlan.com

Highlights:

• 2 news stories in local periodicals
• Hosted booth at 9-day, 750,000 attendee music festival
• Featured “Nalu” character in game center, and at music festival (Cyber LAN Riverbend 2004 Video (13MB WMV))
• Hosted food drives for pets and people

LAN Lizards – Mishawaka, IN
www.lanlizards.com

Highlights:

• Created custom 10 foot wide sign to advertise GeForce 6800
• 3 TV news stories, including top story on local news
• Created and distributed over 3,000 flyers to local universities, tanning salons and apartment complexes
• Hosted 12 hour lock in LAN party
• Raffled off computer with GeForce 6800 GT!

And the gold medal goes to…Cyber LAN!
Competition was fierce and choosing one winner was a difficult decision for the team here in California.  However, after reviewing each center’s promotions and events, and tallying up the rankings in each category, Cyber LAN pulled ahead of the pack and took home the gold.

Cyber LAN will take home 20 GeForce 6800 GT’s as their prize, but LAN Lizards and Cyber Jocks will not go home empty handed.  LAN Lizards takes home the silver (and 10 6800 GT’s), and Cyber Jocks rounds out the medal count with a bronze (and 5 6800 GT’s).

All of us at NVIDIA had a great time looking over the results of ALL participants in the GeForce 6800 GT launch.  We have in the office pictures and images from other participating centers who did not make the top 3 – we wish we could have awarded gold’s to everyone, but in the end, there could be only one.  Stay tuned for the next Game Center Alliance GeForce launch – coming to an NVIDIA-powered game center near you!

-The folks at NVIDIA