BVA Awards 2011

The British Video Association (BVA), the trade organisation which represents the rights owners of all forms of video entertainment in the UK, honoured the talent of its industry at the annual BVA Awards ceremony in Old Billingsgate, London, on 5th May 2011 hosted by comedian Simon Evans.

The event, which attracted more than 1000 guests, recognised the outstanding creative and commercial achievements of companies whose performances and results throughout 2010 made them stand out within the hugely competitive video entertainment market place.

20th Century Fox Home Entertainment collected five awards on the night. They won “Retail Title of the Year” and “Rental Title of the Year” with Avatar, as well as “Best Blu-ray of the Year” as voted for by consumers via the HMV.com website. They also picked up ”Rental Distributor of the Year”.

Universal Pictures (UK) Ltd were awarded the ‘Retail Distributor of the Year’, having ended 2010 with the highest market share of volume sales, according to OCC.

The “Creative Initiative of the Year“ was won by Icon Home Entertainment for their ground breaking use of social media in the campaign for Paranormal Activity.

High Fliers won the “Marketing Initiative of the Year – Non-Theatrical" for their release Passchendaele which impressed the judges with its highly targeted marketing campaign.

The highly prized ‘Marketing Initiative of the Year’ for film awards were divided into three categories, according to box office revenue. The winners were: Momentum Pictures and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (up to £3 million Box Office category), 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment for The A-Team (£3 to £10 million Box Office category) and Icon Home Entertainment for Paranormal Activity (over £10 million Box Office category.

Further marketing awards were divided according to genre with stiff competition in each category. Les Misérables 25th Anniversary Edition campaign by Universal Pictures (UK) Ltd scooped the Music award whilst The Walt Disney Company won in the Children’s category with Beauty and the Beast. HBO Home Entertainment triumphed in the Television category with its campaign for the series The Pacific, whilst the Sony Pictures Home Entertainment “Love It” branded marketing activity saw them receive the award for “Marketing Initiative of the Year for Catalogue”. The Specialist category saw Lionsgate Home Entertainment win for their unique release Keith Lemon’s Fit.

Universal Music and The Pavement fought off very strong competition from 23 other entries to win the “Best British Authored Disc” for the release U2 360° Live at the Rose Bowl.

In the retail sections, HMV scooped two awards firstly as “Bricks and Mortar Retailer of the Year“ and also ‘Blu-ray Retailer of the Year’.

Competition for ‘Online Retailer of the Year’ was fierce this year with shortlisted companies covering the entire online spectrum. However, the panel of Managing Directors, Sales Directors, and Marketing Directors from key distributors were delighted to award the prize to Amazon.co.uk – a retailer which has continued to go from strength to strength.

Recognising the changing landscape of the UK video entertainment a new award was introduced for this year, ”Online Digital Service of the Year” which was won by iTunes.

The “Retailer Marketing Initiative of the Year” award was won by Sainsbury’s for its ground breaking launch campaign activity for the film Shrek Forever After.

The “Supplier/agency of the Year“ award was equally competitive with three strong shortlisted nominations and was won by Premier PR.

The prestigious “Industry Initiative of the Year” awarded by the BVA Council was given to the “Real Deal” campaign which was organized by the Industry Trust for IP Awareness in partnership with the Alliance Against IP Theft.

Please click here to download the 2011
BVA Awards commemorative brochure.