How FIFA was outplayed by Electronic Arts
Back in November, 2021 I wrote about the dilemma faced by Electronic Arts (EA) to rebrand their highly successful cultural phenomenon that is FIFA Football – or ‘soccer’ if you Iive on this side of the pond. When you don’t want to be associated with “What’s in the game.”
Rebranding is always a mistake – right? Marketing wisdom suggests that jettisoning a brand’s name, which has become such a well established ‘distinctive asset’, is akin to committing hari-kari because you instantly lose all awareness, salience and familiarity. All things that can’t be bought in the short-term but have to be forged over an extended period of time and at a considerable, hard and soft, cost to an organization. So, facing the harsh realities of a rebuild from scratch you begin to glimpse the enormous fallacy of rebranding. But, when your precious brand and business has been built on the fallacious foundations of an organization with warped ethics it’s never too soon to step away.
This was something that had been debated almost 20 years ago when I was working at EA. But at that time FIFA still gave an endorsement of credibility for an American computer games company – as it was categorized then – to play in the world of football. Plus the rotten character of the organization had yet to be fully exposed.
So, it was with bated breath that we waited to see the outcome of the rebrand. Well the result is in and you can read in The Economist “How FIFA was outplayed by Electronic Arts.”
As I hoped would happen the shedding, or shredding, of the toxic FIFA brand has done nothing to stop the global juggernaut that is now EA Sports FC.
When you don’t want to be associated with “What’s in the game.”
November 5, 2021
Many years ago when I worked at Electronic Arts, EA and amongst other things I was responsible for their football – and I use the word as defined by 95.79% of the globe – video game. When I arrived EA Sports already had it’s fabled line “If it’s in the game, it’s in the game,” but despite this powerful mantra other competing products were eating the lunch of the previously dominant FIFA Football product.
After working with colleagues Jonathan Bunney, Michel Coulon, cultural brand expert Paul Jarvis of @supercultureagency and Vincent Nolan of research agency 2CV, we undertook an unprecedented program of gamer research across the key global football markets. The results clearly illuminated the problem. What was in the video game, wasn’t in the real game. To name a few fundamental flaws, players were ‘ejected’ rather than sent off for committing red card offense. Goal keepers were called ‘goal tenders.’ And the highly emotive and often controversial crowd chants were nothing but meaningless murmurs. There might have been some great graphics and game functionality, but the cultural context and emotional tone was totally wrong and savvy gamers, who were real football fans, saw right through it.
This was hardly surprising when Electronic Arts (EA)’s Madden Football – yes, that’s the other type of football as defined by 4.21% of the global population – ruled the roost and dominated a product-centric organization. In fact, for financial reasons, which are almost always the wrong reasons, the developers who made the game were based in Vancouver, Canada. A lovely, lovely place, but far removed from the heart and soul of the ‘real’ world of football. It would be like asking a group of developers sitting in Woking, just outside of London, to build an authentic ice hockey experience – poutine wouldn’t be on the menu.
That’s where FIFA helped. FIFA brought the air of authenticity and the promise of if it’s in the game, it will be. But wind the clock forward and the current product not only breathtakingly captures the action on the pitch, but has now also successfully become part of the football culture off the pitch. The game’s music not only includes some the most loved songs being listened to by the fans, but it’s also become a platform to launch new super talent.
Electronic Arts (EA) finds itself in an asymmetric relationship with FIFA. They no longer need the FIFA brand as a badge of authenticity and they certainly don’t want to be associated with the seedy underbelly of the sport. Especially now with ex-FIFA president – Sepp Blatter – being charged with the fraud that he’s long been associated with. In fact, one could argue that FIFA needs EA more than EA needs FIFA when it comes to meaningfully connecting with a youth audience.
So, now is the time for EA to give FIFA a red card, because what’s in EA’s game is better than what FIFA brings to the game.
#marketing #brandstrategy #negativeequity #culturalrelevance