ABOUT THIS ENTRY

During a cluttered holiday marketing period, we needed to drive awareness of EA SPORTS FIFA 22’s promotional holiday offer with an idea that would cut through the noise. We wanted to capture the attention of football fans around the world and drive new and lapsed player acquisition. With the offer designed around the ‘Next Generation’ of football talent, our goal was to ensure that EA SPORTS FIFA 22 was hitting the headlines – so we made the headlines ourselves.

We teamed up to create a hybrid physical and digital activation, starting with custom ‘Next Generation’ newspapers highlighting six of the world’s brightest young football stars. The newspapers were then distributed via EA SPORTS FIFA-branded newsstands in the heart of high-traffic cities London, Paris and New York, as well as online, to engage players around the world.

How does this represent “Excellence in Engagement”?

Telling the stories of the 6 hero Next Generation athletes reinforced the campaign through a one-of-a-kind activation, creating a physical way to bring to life a digital campaign and providing a new way to engage with EA SPORTS FIFA fans.

70+ market-specific influencers and players amplified and extended the life of the papers and the holiday offer through digital channels, creating a buzz in each market and ensuring EA SPORTS FIFA 22 was unmissable on social media.

Digital downloads enabled those unable to pick up a physical copy access to the content, ensuring wider campaign distribution and reach.

Objective: Holiday is a critical moment for EA SPORTS. But they aren’t alone. It is a noisy and cluttered time of the year, making it hard to stand out.

In an effort to incentivize lapsed players to return to the game, EA SPORTS FIFA developed a holiday promotion centered around limited edition in-game player cards of the brand’s Next Generation of football talent. We needed to tell the story of these footballers to show fans how they can take their ultimate squad to the next level.

With football normally reserved for the back pages, we wanted to ensure that EA’s Next Generation was creating front page headlines. So we decided to write the headlines ourselves in a meaningful and tangible way.

Strategy & Execution: We produced the Next Generation newspaper, a traditional 32-page broadsheet with six limited editions translated into English, French, Spanish and Italian. The newspaper featured a 4-page spread for each Next Generation athlete, in-depth articles and quiz questions, and media native advertisements with a simple QR code mechanic for the promotional holiday offer.

We then brought the newspapers to the streets of London, Paris and NYC through bespoke EA SPORTS FIFA-branded newsstands, where papers were distributed in real-time. The newsstands embodied the energy and visual aesthetic of EA SPORTS FIFA 22 and its ambassadors, whilst remaining true to the newsstand format in each market to create an unmissable, organic brand moment that directly connected fans and commuters with physical copies of the Next Generation newspaper.

Additional distribution at Chelsea FC and Manchester City FC home matches connected with local football fans during a Premier League match-day experience.

Results: The campaign saw over 14,000 papers distributed physically and digitally across the key markets. Media investment drove significant over-delivery in a number of key metrics, including over 25m impressions across social through owned and partner channels. More importantly, FIFA 22 daily users were up 10% YoY during the campaign, with an additional 10% increase in new players, resulting in this being EA Sports FIFA’s most successful holiday campaign ever.

Production

EA Sports
We Are Social New York
COPA90
Mundial
Original Syndicate
Secret Walls

Credits

Jas Dhami
Director of Sport
We Are Social New York

Gaby Kirschner
Associate of Sport
We Are Social New York

Josh Noble
Strategist
We Are Social New York

Shawn Francis
Head of Creative
We Are Social New York

DJ Jackson
VP, Brand Marketing
EA Sports

Kevin Strunk
Sr. Manager, Brand Marketing
EA Sports

James Salmon
Director, Brand Marketing
EA Sports

Nandy Misir
Brand Marketing Lead
EA Sports

Josh Farber
Director, Marcom Strategy
EA Sports

Simon Joyce
Chief Business Officer
COPA90

Katie McGregor
Head of Client Services
COPA90

Stuart Davis
Client Partner
COPA90

Fisayo Aluko
Client Partner
COPA90

Dylan Soopramania
Creative Director
COPA90

Ally Everitt
Sr. Project Manager
COPA90

Cameron Sims
Media Director
COPA90

Sam Stringer
Media Campaigns Manager
COPA90

Rob Michaels
Director of Production Operations
COPA90

Seb White
Managing Editor
MUNDIAL

Owen Blackhurst
Editor
MUNDIAL

James Bird
Deputy Editor
MUNDIAL

Alex Mertekis
Art Director
MUNDIAL

Ben Roth
Founder
Original Syndicate

Steve Richqrds
Founder
Original Syndicate

John Hemsley
Set Designer
Original Syndicate

Kevin Collins
CEO
Secret Walls

Terry Guy
Founder
Secret Walls

Jimi Mackay
Creative Director
Secret Walls