2012 Winners & Shortlists

Results and Effectiveness

So we got to be #1. And how! FIFA 12 sales exceeded the previous edition sales by over 100% and outsold the competition by 4:1! FIFA 12 was also the highest grossing mobile game on the iOS app store for 9 consecutive weeks and has finally emerged as the highest grossing sports console game EVER! MOST importantly, we earned the trust of our Core Gamers who blessed us with a consumer speak of 1.8 million mentions in the blogosphere. AND voted FIFA 12 as the ‘Best Sports Game’ at the MEGamers People’s Choice Awards 2011.

Creative Execution

So we pandered BIG TIME to the Core Gamers. We scouted the blogs and gaming sites to know who they were and what they were looking for. So they got what they wanted and more - free demo copies of the FIFA 12 WAY in advance and EA’s ear on how we could do better. Targeted Arabic gaming communities and forums spread the message that the game was now available to pre-order. We also drove traffic and fed exclusive trailers and content to the Facebook community to encourage conversations. The (un) expected then happened, 1.8 million mentions in the blogosphere! This BEFORE the main media campaign even started. Since our volumes (Gaming Enthusiasts) were already influenced, targeted display advertising and SEM campaign built up hype, fuelled closure. THEN the mass media launch came ..But by then, we had already scored BEFORE kickoff!

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

EA’s FIFA has always been a distant second behind Pro-Evolution Soccer. We wanted to be #1. Our key consumer learning told us that there were three categories of gamers in decreasing levels of involvement – Core Gamers, Gaming Enthusiasts and Casual Gamers. Core Gamers drove HEAVY influence on the Gaming Enthusiasts and the volumes lay in the latter. The key insight was the Gaming Enthusiast was a “lost soul” with the mind boggling variety of game launches and looked at the Core Gamer for “rescue”. The Core Gamers ‘know it all” aura needed to be pandered to by EA! So we had to rescue our volume for the launch by Scoring before Kickoff i.e. win the Core Gamer BEFORE the launch!