NESTLÉ LINKS WITH CHAMPIONSHIP MANAGER

The deal, secured with Upfront Promotions, will involve Nestlé putting Championship Manager PC CD ROMs into millions of packets of Cheerios ™, Honey Nut Cheerios™ and Sporties™ in the UK and Golden Grahams™ and Crunch™ in Spain from May.

For the UK (which will receive the vast majority of the promotional packs), there are three collectable CDs, one of which contains a two-season demo of the record breaking Championship Manager: Season 01/02. There is also a special CD containing exclusive hints, tips and tactics for both games, written by the Sports Interactive team. There is also an extended demo of Sports Interactive’s first foray outside of the management simulation genre Championship Manager Quiz.

In Spain there are two CDs, featuring a two-season demo of Championship Manager: Season 01/02 and a localised version of the CD of hints, tips and tactics written by the Sports Interactive team especially for this promotion.

This promotion is being backed by extensive TV advertising campaigns in both territories.

Commenting on the deal, Sports Interactive’s Managing Director Miles Jacobson said, “We’re very pleased to have signed this deal with Nestlé, and we believe it’s very significant for a number of reasons. It means Champ Man is getting directly in front of people who fall within a whole new range of potential customers. And it confirms that computer games are now accepted as a mainstream entertainment proposition by big brand FMCG companies, who are increasingly committing to developing exciting co-marketing initiatives. This can only be a good thing.

"This is just one of many promotional activities for the Championship Manager series both in the run up to, and during, the World Cup. As one of the few games that seems to sell all year round, an extra push at this stage is great for us and for all retail."

Gary Davies, former Radio One DJ and now Managing Director of Upfront Promotions said, “We’ve previously put together a number of premium CD promotions for Cereal Partners UK, each one larger than the last. It has been a pleasure working with Sports Interactive and Eidos on this Championship Manager promotion which will no doubt capitalise on forthcoming World Cup fever and introduce new consumers to market-leading football games and cereal brands.”

The cereal packs featuring the promotion are due to hit retailer’s shelves in May 2002, and will be in stores for the duration of the World Cup tournament.