Total Media has taken over the pounds 300,000 planning and buying task for Midway, the US-based video-games manufacturer, from an unnamed and recently hired agency.
The client specialises in titles for the Nintendo 64, PlayStation and Dreamcast consoles and is preparing a February push for Ready 2 Rumble Boxing: Round 2, a game that features Michael Jackson.
The PlayStation game went on sale last week and will be advertised in gaming magazines, websites and possibly on TV. Creative will be handled inhouse by Midway.
Guy Sellers, joint managing director of Total Media, hinted that the advertiser might consider upping its spend and using mainstream media.
'Midway has just set up over here and is looking to grow market share,' he said.
'A lot of our clients - book publishers, for example - are constantly launching products. This is one of our strengths and is ideal for a computer games company.'
Total Media has added pounds 7.5 million to its billings this year, winning accounts such as Icelandair and Flipside.com.
The agency has appointed director Nick Hammond and account manager Nick Adams to work on the Midway business.
Last month Midway, which competes against manufacturers such as Infogrames and Konami, reported a 56 per cent year-on-year drop in quarterly revenues, from dollars 106 million in 1999 to dollars 47 million in 2000.
The company, which recently launched in the UK, was founded in the 70s and is the name behind arcade and computer games such as Mortal Kombat and SpyHunter.
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