In 2011, a National Football League (NFL) strike threatened America’s number 1 sport. Players and owners disputed salaries, players’ safety benefits and revenue sharing. Constant negative press turned off loyal fans and hurt the marketability of products like Madden NFL 12, EA Sports' award-winning videogame franchise.Fans anticipate the annual videogame launch and its NFL cover athlete reveal as much as season kick-off. Named after Hall-of-Fame coach John Madden, the franchise has sold 90m lifetime units in its 23 years. With the threat of a strike looming, EA Sports had a potential crisis on its hands: keep fans engaged in the sport to help drive videogame sales at launch in August 2011. To ensure consumers knew Madden NFL 12 would release, regardless of a strike, and to keep fans interested, EA Sports leveraged one of its most valuable assets: the Madden NFL cover. To players, the cover is an honour: To fans, it’s an accolade only the best athletes deserve. Debated by fans, players and media, EA Sports knew the debate would reignite around the 2012 athlete and used that interest to turn a 1 day announcement into a 6-week integrated campaign, giving fans the power to vote for the Madden NFL 12 cover athlete.Through a multi-layered partnership with ESPN, media relations, social media, and a live stunt, the campaign generated nearly 13m votes, and increased pre-sell targets by 3% year-over-year. EA’s COO, Peter Moore, called it “the best-executed promotional campaign in video game history.”

Media• Distributed weekly voting results, customized pitches of key players/matchups, and secured NFL player interviews.• Conducted a media tour and released the 'Madden NFL 12 Playbook' to define new game features for previews.

Digital• Posted voting results across social media channels, hosted live Facebook chats with NFL contenders and posted campaign videos from professional athletes.

• ESPN’s SportsNation produced original social media content featuring its host, Michelle Beadle and created an interactive webpage where fans voted, watched Madden NFL videos, accessed athlete chats and expert blogs.Event A Times Square-takeover celebrated the winner, Cleveland Brown’s running back Peyton Hillis, and gave fans and media a 'first look' at the game. Hundreds watched an expansive photo shoot with Hillis on a replica football field. The Facebook page streamed the event and fans Tweeted poses for Hillis to replicate during the shoot, with one photo appearing on the game cover.

Objective 1:• Secured 1,555+ stories (548% increase YOY), accounting for 136.4m+ daily impressions (241% increase YOY).

• Buzz and Nielsen metrics doubled YOY.Objective 2: • Nearly 13m votes were logged.

• The Facebook page generated 200,000+ new fans (50% fan base increase); 33m+ post views of content.• Dozens of athletes from professional sports leagues (NFL, NBA, etc) via social media channels provided their opinions on the voting campaign.Objective 3:• 40 reporters/photographers attended the Madden NFL 12 Kick-off in Times Square; Hillis was featured on 'Late Night with David Letterman'.

• Through 'Madden NFL 12 Playbook', community sentiment around game features increased 17% YOY.

Objective 4:• Pre-sell target increased by 3% year-over-year; week 1 game sales were over 1.4m units, a 10% increase year-over-year.