How EA [Electronic Arts] connects with fans
by Brian Koh on August 26th, 2008
Not a client of ours here in Singapore, but very very impressive (to me at least!)
I love the way EA identified a user-posted glitch on their Tiger Woods’08 title, and instead of spending hundreds of thousands buying advertising space on television networks, promoting it in banner ads or even spamming you on facebook, simply posted a video response.
Posted just SIX DAYS ago, it’s been viewed 1.6 million times, and dare i say, counting, EA shows us it’s not too difficult to find the opportunity and use it to your advantage.
i believe this keen eye for the opportunity, and the execution of the response, the content behind it and the transmission methods were all due to keen insight into the audience they wished to connect with.
don’t believe me? i think this trailer for their upcoming game “Battlefield Heroes” demonstrates that they understand the changing consumer landscape in the way “inside jokes” or “culturally specific” references are used.
the product is another hint of genius in it’s entirety. making a high quality, credible game available for free online FOR the consumer / fan, is a gift of love to the people who love you already. check out their site to know what i mean http://www.battlefield-heroes.com
it reminds me of when Southpark made all their episodes free for public consumption. it’s a new business revenue model, they’ve almost become their own network.. a micro indie channel perhaps. maybe they’ll sell the content cheaply to other internet tv stations like Miro or Joost, and they retain their creative licenses as well. a lot to chew on, but i think these two ideas show us how nothing’s really set in stone these days. www.southparkstudios.com







August 26th, 2008 at 8:49 pm
Battlefield Heroes looks totally awesome. It’s going to rock big time.
I just hope that EA isn’t still abusing their employees like they did before, just so that they can bring all that awesomeness to us.
http://ea-spouse.livejournal.com/274.html
August 27th, 2008 at 12:51 pm
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