At
CES earlier this month, EA SPORTS announced
its latest partnership with Monster Inc. (the
consumer electronics company – not the career site). Chris Erb, VP Brand
Marketing of EA SPORTS, sat down with us to provide more detail on the
partnership as well as his process on building successful partnerships.
Brandon Gutman: Please tell us about the
recent Monster and EA SPORTS partnership.
Chris Erb: EA SPORTS is always looking
for opportunities to enhance the gaming experience for our fans. As
entertainment consumption technology continued to evolve, we kept a close eye
on how the music headphone business was changing for the better. Through those
observations, we saw a natural fit to partner with Monster to create an equally
high-quality and innovative experience with gaming headphones.
After
a two-year exploration with the team at Monster to discover the best way to
develop a gaming headphone from the ground up, EA SPORTS and Monster created
the EA SPORTS MVP Carbon by
Monster®, an all-new gaming headphone that will fuse superior design
with maximum comfort and performance, allowing gamers to immerse themselves in
their favorite EA SPORTS titles without the need for multiple speakers and
separate processors.
The EA SPORTS MVP Carbon by Monster® is the world’s first
headphone to feature Monster® HDHS (High Definition Headphone Surround), which
delivers the most realistic sound experience for gaming, music and movies.
Built from the ground up specifically for gaming, the headphones will be
compatible with PCs, Xbox 360®, PlayStation®3, Wii™ and Wii U™.
Being that this is a new partnership, converging gamers with high
performance audio fans, are you anticipating the development of a new market?
We believe the EA SPORTS MVP Carbon by Monster® fills a gap in the
existing headphone market. Until now, there hasn’t been a premium headphone in
the market that delivers quality gaming audio on any platform as well as
quality music or movie sound. That was our vision from day one, over-the-top
premium audio in a great looking industrial design. In the process, we now have
a new vehicle to connect fans to their passion for sports in an immersive way
and we think it presents new marketing opportunities for us as well.
The headsets go on sale in February. How are you promoting the
launch?
We announced the partnership at
CES and received
amazing reviews and support. We are now building off that success by placing the MVP Carbon’s
into as many relevant hands as possible to create an army of evangelists for
the product. Gamers, athletes and music fans all see different things about the
headphones that resonate strongly with them and the audiences they share with.
Making sure we can amplify their thoughts through digital and social media
platforms in order to fuel organic awareness of the product is the near-term
focus.
You’ve developed and led some highly successful partnerships
between EA SPORTS and other leading brands. What is your advice to fellow brand
marketers who are seeking alliances that will build awareness as well as drive
revenue?
I recommend following the four tenets below when evaluating and
managing a strategic partnership:
Be strategic. Determine the categories and brands where a partnership would
create greater value for consumers of both brands. Collaborative efforts that
surprise and delight consumers, create greater value and solve a need are the
most successful and will garner the greatest amount of organic impressions and
awareness. Organic conversations around partnerships validate and glorify
the brands involved leading to better product recognition and affinity.
Be visible. If you’re a brand marketer,
know the key decision-makers at the brands you wish to partner with, the ones
identified in your strategy. Have a vision of how you’d partner and what
you’re looking for and share concepts of how the program would work. Through
collaborative conversation the program will morph itself into something of
great benefit to consumers of both brands.
Be honest. Partnerships have
costs. Knowing those costs, who is covering what and what might have to be
funded by one party or the other must be explained and discussed early. Ninety
percent of our partnerships are exchange only but some of our partnerships
require shared revenue or investments in media and other assets by a brand. As
long as expectations are set from the beginning this becomes a non-issue.
Be authentic. Never stray from your overall
brand strategy. There are a lot of amazing brands that we can never work with
because it wouldn’t be authentic to the EA SPORTS brand.
0 comments:
Post a Comment