Like most other industries, the gaming
business has been hit by the financial crisis, prompting software
companies such as Electronic Arts (EA) to go back to the kinds of
marketing strategies that they know work: Television, Out of Home
and various digital activities. However ,Morten Nielsen, Nordic
Marketing Director, emphasises, the company is still aiming to stay
innovative and is always looking out for new ways of doing
things."We want to stay Top of the Pops," says Nielsen.
Jonas Hemmingsen (JH): How does
the need for constant innovation affect your co-operation with your
media agency? What do you expect from us?
MN: "The young consumers use their
mobile phones, iPhones and iPads all the time. Social media is a
very high priority to them, and thereby to us. We're already the
biggest supplier of games for iPhones, and in all our 2010-title
launches you'll find hype games for Facebook, Twitter and Youtube.
Th is makes it very important to us that our advertising agency and
media agency stay ahead of the game and propose new paths to us
with due respect to the ROI."
JH: In reality the iPhone works as
a gaming device. How do you see the arrival of the iPad? It has a
better screen than the iPhone, which already has around 150,000
applications - most of them free. How will this affect your
business?
MN: "The iPad is not a top priority
for us. This is due to several reasons. One, we see that the market
share for PC games in general is going down. And two, the area in
growth is social games like Wii. The mobile phones are primarily
for the quick fix, when you're on your way to school or university,
whereas the computers or Playstations provide an experience of a
higher quality."
JH: And if the free applications
for iPads spread in the same way as they have with the
iPhone...?
MN: "I'm sure we'll see that happen
but I don't think it will catch on in the beginning. If you look at
the iPhone the graphics are great and the usability is amazing. For
the simple games the iPad will obviously be perfect, but if you
want to play more complicated games, like Counterstrike for
instance, you have to be online and to be able to react within
seconds. The iPad simply won't do the job."
JH: Innovation has been a top
priority for EA since 2000…
MN: "Yes, we aim to launch two, three
innovative titles every year. And we aim to position ourselves as
the online leader. When we launch a new title we always include an
online plan. It's extremely important to us to hold onto the gamers
so they don't think: 'That was it? Now I have to go down and invest
another €80 in a new game'. We need to supply free online content,
new fields, uniforms and the like to keep them going. The best
example was a FIFA gamer in USA who spent $2,500 because he was so
fascinated by all the extra assets."
JH: Do you see any possibilities
for involving the advertiser to a higher extent? Obviously in-game
advertising has been around for years...
MN: "No doubt about that, in-game
advertising has been around for what feels like forever. The best
example is FIFA, where you can buy the classic in-game banners.
Obviously there are lots of other options and the great thing is
that we can track it and report it to the advertiser. In the future
we will sell ads in two ways: The classic way and the new way where
we introduce it as part of the game, which will ensure higher
involvement and we'll be able to track it quite accurately in the
targeted groups. We know this method from the movie industry, where
they have worked with product placement for years, and we'll see a
lot more of it, as games have surpassed movies in many ways."