
MAZ marks the second phase of its 2023 Superbrand research process
The unveiling of the Top 200 brands by the Marketers Association of Zimbabwe culminates in the Superbrand Awards at year-end.
IN-GAME MARKETING
By our News Team | 2022
The growth of in-game branding and marketing, and the requirements of the rapidly unfolding metaverse, may be changing the game – quite literally.
Eyebrows are being raised among sports marketers and marketers focused on the gaming industry following the announcement that video games publisher Electronic Arts (commonly known as EA Sports) is going to stop making FIFA-branded soccer games.
These games – the best-known being FIFA 2022, FIFA 2021 etc – have proved hugely popular with consumers and used EA Sport’s approved status with world soccer’s governing body to develop games that recreate the world’s major clubs and football competitions down to the finest detail.
EA Sports made the first FIFA-branded game in 1993 and has been in control of the franchise ever since.
Gamers at the launch of the FIFA20 video game during the Gamescom trade fair in Germany. Photo credit: Dronepicr via Wikimedia Commons
The decision by the company appears to be down to several factors, but may be an indicator of how sports franchising, growing in-game branding and marketing, and the requirements of the rapidly unfolding metaverse may be changing the game – quite literally.
Time is right to move in a new direction
According to media reports, one of the stumbling blocks between EA Sports and FIFA is that FIFA is demanding a franchise fee of more than US$1-billion for the next four-year agreement cycle. But EA Sports seems to feel that the time is right, anyway, to move in a different direction because of the way gaming is evolving.
“The world of football and the world of entertainment are changing, and they clash within our product,” David Jackson, Vice President at EA Sports, is quoted as saying by the BBC.
“In the future our players will demand of us the ability to be more expansive in that offering. At the moment, we engage in play as a primary form of interactive experience. Soon, watching and creating content are going to be equally as important for fans.
“Under the licensing conventions that we had agreed with FIFA 10 years ago, there were some restrictions that weren’t going to allow us to be able to build those experiences for [game] players.”
Jackson said the financial demands of FIFA were an element of the decision, but not the only factor.
“On balance, over time, we felt that our investments were better suited in spaces that were most important to players, like the different experiences we can now build in the game. For our partners, it’s the way we can welcome and engage them into a platform that talks to 150-million young football fans around the world,” he told the BBC.
The unveiling of the Top 200 brands by the Marketers Association of Zimbabwe culminates in the Superbrand Awards at year-end.
While culture and history still permeate the North African consumer experience, it is also a region undergoing a dramatic evolution.
Company says order-fulfilment software from the US digitises and optimises the picking, packing, staging and distribution of online orders.
Placing goods that are not on promotion next to ones that are being discounted can have both positive and negative effects.
AzamPesa mobile money wallet set to close the gap between urban and rural areas in terms of access to financial products and solutions?
Survey finds people spend a month of their lives waiting for call centre agents to pick up. So insurer unveils ‘#StopHoldMusic’ campaign.
Top brands of the future will not be focused on the products they sell, but rather on serving an ecosystem of stakeholder needs.
Growth is expected to resume in 2023 at more than double the rate of last year, with the retail sector being the biggest spender.
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are usually associated with celebrities and market volatility. But there is untapped potential for marketers.
Annual Brand Africa study shows the continent’s brands are losing ground to their international counterparts.
Auchan – a competitor to Carrefour – will make Algeria its fifth market on the African continent later this year.