User:Tsnichols

International Game Developers Association

[edit] Tom Nichols Bio:

Tom Nichols is the CEO and founder of Game Plan Consulting, a management consulting firm providing services to clients in the videogame industry. Game Plan Consulting provides retainer and project based consulting in building strategic brand plans, conducting market research, evaluating entertainment software products and their market potential, and developing and executing product marketing plans for entertainment software products. More information about Game Plan Consulting can be viewed at [1].

Tom Nichols is a seasoned marketing expert in consumer products specializing in entertainment software. He has a proven track record of melding business analysis, consumer research and marketing strategy to successfully define, market, and launch consumer products. His 15+ years of marketing experience includes working with industry leading brands such as Electronic Arts, Sega, Atari, Hasbro, Adobe and Apple.

Before starting Game Plan Consulting, Tom was Vice President, Marketing at Turbine, Inc. and led the marketing efforts to drive pre-launch awareness for Dungeons & Dragons Online that exceeded plans. Tom led a cross-functional marketing team that included product marketing, public relations, community management, event marketing, direct marketing, market research, and advertising. Tom’s strategic approach to building marketing strategies is reflected in his work as Director of Brand Marketing at Atari, Inc., where he was responsible for many diverse brands such as Dragon Ball Z, Rollercoaster Tycoon and Hasbro family and kids games. His extensive marketing capability is further highlighted by his accomplishments as Vice President of Marketing for the Sega Sports division, where he was responsible for all strategic and outbound marketing efforts in North America for the $150M Sega Sports brand and its franchises, including the acclaimed NFL 2K and NBA 2K series. At Sega, Tom negotiated a strategic partnership with ESPN and managed strategic relationships with all of the major sports leagues and players associations. Prior to joining Sega, he served as Marketing Director at EA.com, where he launched the highly anticipated online title Majestic. He also held the position of Marketing Director at Hasbro Interactive, where he was responsible for the entire line-up of MicroProse strategy games and Atari action games, including the best selling titles RollerCoaster Tycoon (#1 selling PC game of 1999) and Frogger 2.

Tom has an M.B.A. in High Technology Marketing from the Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley, and a B.S. in Aeronautics and Astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.