EA Sports – It’s in the Feed
Posted by Chris Blumberg | May 8, 2009
EA made headlines last month when they announced their support for @aplusk in his quest to punk Ted Turner. The Madden publisher vowed to reward the former “Dude Where’s my Car?” headliner’s 1,000,000th follower with a copy of every game EA makes in ‘09. While the media world (and my co-workers) ate this up, I think we may have missed the real headline. EA is on Twitter?
That’s right twitterverse; the industries’ premiere sports publisher is leveraging the internet’s hottest tool to reach sports fans and gamers everywhere. And get this; they are doing it in a smart way. The EA feed doesn’t just spit out generic information about their lineup of titles or spam your cell phone with tweets drooling over KB24 (ahem, @mattestory). Rather, the feed provides fans with valuable information they can’t get anywhere else. Want to ask Madden cover athletes Larry Fitzgerald and Troy Polamalu what it was like to compete against each other in Super Bowl XLIII? Better submit it to @ea first. How would you like a free copy of Connect Four, Battleship, and Yahtzee for your Xbox 360? All you need to do is think of a phrase to replace “you sunk my battleship.” Best 2 get codes. EA has also started leveraging multiple accounts to better tailor their messaging to the subscriber. Tiger Woods fans can get all of the info they need to hit the long ball via @easports. Gamers on the go however may find the information coming from @eamobile much more relevant.
EA has some of the most dedicated followers in the industry (I personally haven’t missed a copy of NCAA Football since Danny Wuerffel was on the cover). It would have been easy for this giant to patronize fans with product information, links to their homepage, and other info readily available all over the web. Instead, @EA is leveraging the power of twitter to start a conversation with their fans, providing them with coveted content and engaging with them in a real way. Utilizing twitter in this way also allows EA to send targeted messages to their fans, as well as make recommendations and drive interest in new IP. So as a marketer and a fan I salute you EA for avoiding the traps so many corporate tweeters fall into. Keep the content coming.
