UnLtd’s Big Game, the advertisng and media industry’s first virtual gaming tournament, raised more than $56,000 for children and young people at risk.
OMD took out the inaugural trophy of the Rocket League tournament with 24 teams, sponsored by Twitch and supported by LetsPlay.Live and eGen.
The semi-final and Grand Final was played live on Twitch on June 2. The first semi-final was a mouthwatering battle of Omnicom agencies with OMD beating sister agency PHD.
The second semi-final saw Carat beat Quantcast in a tight game with strong performance from Jimbae and Quadzilla.
The final between Carat and OMD brought together two of the tournament’s greatest players – Carat’s Jimbae (Zac Kelly) and OMD’s Momo (Jacky Mo).
The first goal was scored by OMD in the first three seconds and they kept on coming until the final seconds thanks to the teamwork of Denny Turkus (Thomas McGlynn) and Momo.
Thomas McGlynn from winning OMD team: “We want to say a big thank you to Big Game and UnLtd for hosting the tournament, as well as Max Vonneumann (@formalcasting) for doing such a stellar job at casting each game and keeping up the hype.
"We loved having the opportunity to interact across our industry outside of our normal ways of working, and the fact we came out on top amongst some fierce competition was a great bonus.
"Whilst we love being the official gaming champions of our industry, the real winners are the kids that will be helped thanks to everyone who took part. We hope to do this all again next year!”
The winning team receives a Twitch prize pack that includes a jersey signed by Team Liquid, one of the best professional esports teams in the world.
Ricky Chanana, head of sales AUNZ for Twitch: “We loved being part of Big Game and being able to provide a forum for our industry to connect and chat over gaming and do our part in helping raise funds for the important work that UnLtd do with young people at risk. There were some epic games to watch and a great atmosphere in the chat too! We can’t wait for next year’s Big Game!”
The teams in Big Game: ACM, ARN, Carat, Mediacom, Foxtel Media, GroupM, Half Dome, IPG Mediabrands, Sizmek, Nova, Network 10, Nine, OMD, oOh!media, Publicis, PHD, Quantcast, REA Group, Seven West Media, The Guardian, Val Morgan, The Trade Desk, Verizon Media and Twitch.
Bronte Mikel, events manager at UnLtd: “It was amazing to bring together the gaming talent of our industry but also to introduce new people to the world of gaming and esports. We’ve had such positive feedback and we can’t wait to do it all again soon!
"Thank you to everyone who gamed for good and helped us raise funds for children at risk. And a huge thank you to our sponsor Twitch and supporters Let’sPlay.Live and eGen and our wonderful host Max Vonneumann – we couldn’t have done it without you!”
Duane Mutu, managing director of LetsPlay.Live: “It was a pleasure introducing esports to the local advertising industry. Congratulations to OMD and GGWP to all that were involved.”
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