EA Sports





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A DECADE OF BRAND DOMINANCE

Working for over a decade, I helped build the Electronic Arts Brand (EA Sports, EA Games) through strategic and creative development, helping Electronic Arts gain 44% market share (almost 4 times as much as the nearest competitor)



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THE GENESIS OF THE EA SPORTS BRAND.

I helped shape the EA Sports brand from the very beginning. Developing the name, tagline, logo design and brand positioning. “The spittin’ image of sports.” was almost selected as the tagline, but “If it’s in the game, it’s in the game.” was the winner. The rest is history.

“EASN (Electronic Arts Sports Network) was being sued by ESPN for potential copyright infringement. As part of the settlement, EASN changed its name to EA Sports, and in return ESPN gave EA free media time.
EA Sports’ first TV campaign was on the air and quickly established EA Sports as the leader in sports video games.


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CREATING THE WHITE BOX CATEGORY.

EA Sports wanted to create the first branded line of video games. I visted numerous video game stores to experience what buying a video game was all about. Hundreds of games. Hundreds of colors. The only color I didn’t see was white. So white it was. Not only did the white boxes stand out, “white box games” became the industry handle for sports video games.




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DEVELOPING THE CINEMATIC GAME SCREEN CAPTURE PACKAGE.

Game screen graphics were becoming more life-like than ever, but antiquated video capture methods were not up to speed. I started an initiative to create an in-game camera package using x y and z coordinates. This simple innovation allowed us to position the camera anywhere in the game and capture footage that showcased the product in a cinematic fashion. Just one example of how immersed I was in every aspect of the EA Sports business.



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EA SPORTS WESTERN EUROPE

I moved to London to open Odiorne Wilde+Partners’ first international office. While there, I hired and organized the marketing team to manage advertising for Electronic Arts in Western Europe. The United States Chamber of Commerce selected Odiorne Wilde as one of eight successful case studies for their publication “Bridging The Atlantic: How Eight Small Businesses succeeded in Europe.”


EA Europe was releasing FIFA World Cup in Eastern Europe. The challange was to create one campaign that would resonate in 7 different countries. Football in Europe is more than a game, it’s about the individual pride of a country. A country’s pride can live and die depending on how their team performs in the World Cup, so we created a campaign that tapped into the rivalries. The TV spots featured a football fanatic celebrating after winning the World Cup, only we aired the fan celebrating in the rivals country.For example: a commercial with an England fan celebrating after winning the World Cup ran on every TV in Scotland. The call to action was simple; take action, or face the celebration of your neighboring country.

FIFA World Cup - England and Germany




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