Words: 944
ASSIGNMENT OF MARKETING MANAGEMENT TOPIC :- MARKETING MIX MARKETING MIX OF EA SPORTS INTODUCTION : – EA Sports is a brand name used by Electronic Arts since 1993 to distribute games based on sports. Formerly a gimmick inside Electronic Arts sports games, that tried to mimic real-life sports networks, calling themselves “EA Sports Network” (EASN) with pictures or endorsements of real commentators such as John Madden, it soon grew up to become a sub-label on its own, releasing game series such as FIFA, NHL, Madden NFL, and NASCAR. EA Sports’ early motto, If it’s in the game, it’s in the game, (later abbreviated to just It’s in the game. reflects the aim of the early games to portray reality as best as the technology would allow. Unlike some other companies, EA Sports has no special ties to a single platform, which means that all games are released for the best-selling active platforms, sometimes long after most other companies abandon them. After establishing with some highly regarded titles from 1987-1992, most notably Earl Weaver Baseball 1987, John Madden Football 1990 and NHL Hockey 1991, EA decided in 1992 to launch a sports-only label and EASN was born.
ESPN took note of the similarities, and forced EA to come up with a new label to put their sports label under for the 1994 season. Product : – Most EA Sports games are distinguished by year, as most games are released on a yearly basis. However, as EA Sports is the leading purchaser of official licenses, it’s not uncommon that in a short span several games of the same sport but with different licenses are released: FIFA 98 was shortly followed by World Cup 98 (as EA has the license for the FIFA World Cup and the
European Football Championship, it happens regularly in two-year intervals) and college football or basketball games based on both NBA Live and Madden NFL. The earlier titles released until 1996 are referred by fans as the classic series. There are several other series, including F1 Championship (discontinued after Sony acquired the exclusive license for the Formula 1 championship), Super bike and others with a limited distribution such as AFL PRODUCT LINE ; PRODUCT MIX IS DETAILED BELOW:- Place : –
Original HQ in San Mateo, California moved to Redwood City in 1998 Origin Systems in Austin, Texas acquired in 1992, closed in 2004 Bullfrog Productions in Surrey, England acquired in 1995, effectively closed in 2001 EA Baltimore in Baltimore, Maryland established in 1996 as part of Origin, closed in 2000 EA Seattle in Seattle, Washington formerly Manley ; Associates, acquired in 1996, closed in 2002 Maxis in Walnut Creek, California acquired in 1997, closed in 2004 (moved to Redwood City location) Westwood Studios in Las Vegas, Nevada acquired in 1998, shut down in 2003 EA Pacific (known for a time as Westwood Pacific) in Irvine, California formerly part of Virgin Interactive, acquired with Westwood in 1998, closed in 2003 Kesmai (known also as Game Storm); acquired in 1999, closed in 2001. DICE Canada in London, Ontario (created Battlefield 2: Special Forces expansion, Battlefield Vietnam, and all BF2 patches). Acquired DICE fully October 2, 2006; closed DICE Canada studio hours later.
EA Japan in Tokyo, Japan closed due to consolidation; moved under EA Partners model EA is currently headquartered in Redwood City, California. Price : – Price is the one element of the marketing mix that produces revenue, the other elements produce cost. Prices are the easiest marketing mix element to adjust; product feature, channel and even promotion take more time price also communicates to the market the company intended value positioning of its product or brand. Hawkins was determined to sell directly to buyers. Combined with the fact that Hawkins was pioneering new game brands, this made sales growth more challenging. Retailers wanted to buy known brands from existing distribution partners. Despite this, revenue was $5 million in the first year and $11 million the next. Former CEO Larry Probst arrived as VP of Sales in late 1984 and helped the company sustain growth into $18 million in its third full year. Teaming with the existing sales staff that included Nancy Smith, David Klein, and David Gardner, Probst built the largest sales force of any American game publisher. This policy of dealing directly with retailers gave EA higher margins and better market awareness, key advantages the company would leverage to leapfrog its early competitors. Net revenue was $3 billion – up 19 percent. Gross margin was at an all time high of 62. 7 percent. Operating income was up 70 percent to $776 million while operating margin reached 26 percent.
Their operating cash flow was $669 million and their return on invested capital was a record 70 percent yet as successful as EA is today, the biggest opportunities are still ahead… Promotion : – EA has adopted a strategy of platform-agnostic development and the creation of strong multi-year franchises for promotion. EA was the first publisher to release yearly updates of its sports franchises- Madden, FIFA, NHL, NBA Live, Tiger Woods, etc. – with updated player rosters and small graphical and game play tweaks. Recognizing the risk of franchise fatigue among consumers, EA announced in 2006 that it would concentrate more of its effort on creating new original Intellectual Property
EA originally decided against allowing their games on Microsoft’s Xbox Live online service due to arguments between Microsoft and EA about the distribution of revenue from online play. EA finally agreed to release games on Xbox Live on the condition that Microsoft allows the games to connect to the EA servers in order to play them online. Some of the techniques used by EA in marketing its products have been adopted from other entertainment companies such as record producers, video distributors and magazine publishers. In order to provide realistic gaming experiences, the designers of the company work in tandem with celebrities and sports organizations through contracts.