Design > Brand Building

EA SPORTS FC

UNCOMMON, London / EA SPORTS FC / 2024

Awards:

Shortlisted Cannes Lions
CampaignCampaignLayout(opens in a new tab)
Presentation Image
Case Film
Supporting Images

Overview

Credits

Overview

Why is this work relevant for Design?

Football comes in many colours, but very few shapes. The new brand took design inspiration directly from the beautiful game and a dominant shape in football culture - the triangle.

From Cruyff to Guardiola. From passing patterns to set plays. The shape has also been deeply embedded in EA’s football games for decades; from the isometric angles of its very first 8-bit experiences to the iconic player control indicator that appears above every athlete in every match.

The triangle has been waiting patiently on the bench for over 30 years and it was time to finally unleash it.

Is this product available for purchase?

We launched the new brand with guerilla tactics in the homes of fans; at the biggest home games of the season of some of our largest partner clubs - Liverpool, Dortmund, Madrid and Tottenham.

Fans attending these games were fully immersed in the new identity with EA SPORTS FC tifos in their club colours displayed outside stadiums as well as limited edition merchandise from official stands outside the stadiums. Merch includes pin badges, scarfs, flags and stickers all in the according club colours.

Please provide any cultural context that would help the Jury understand any cultural, national or regional nuances applicable to this work.

EA Sports announced that their biggest franchise - FIFA (a game with over £20B in revenue and 150M players, globally) would be breaking up with its namesake.

The world’s largest sports game would be renaming itself EA Sports FC. We were tasked with building the new brand.

Turning a purist design project into what the BBC called ‘the biggest rebrand in entertainment history’.

Background

EA Sports announced that their biggest franchise - FIFA would be breaking up with its namesake. The world’s largest sports game would be renaming itself EA Sports FC. We were tasked with building the new brand.

Few brands get noticed. Even fewer make their way into language. FIFA, though, had become a noun. “Do you wanna play FIFA?” was a catchphrase of millions of football fans from Tokyo to Toronto, Sydney to Singapore, London to Los Angeles. To secure the future of the world’s biggest sports game franchise, we’d need to do more than design an identity - we’d need to claim the brand a place in fan culture.

FC would become EA SPORTS platform to create, innovate and grow new football experiences, connecting hundreds of millions of fans through console, mobile, online and esports products.

Describe the creative idea

We wanted to celebrate football fans. The symbol of fan power (and the inspiration for our identity) had been hiding in plain sight. FIFA had always had a symbol for fan power: the iconic triangular player control indicator that appears above every athlete when a player controls them.

Triangles had further significance. It’s a shape that has transformed the game over and over again. From Cruyff to Guardiola. From passing patterns to set plays. The triangle has revolutionised the game as we know it. And we used it to do it again. The triangle metaphor for fan power guided the system - from our logo, to our bespoke typography, to the grid system that guides all composition.

Describe the execution

The new brand took design inspiration directly from a dominant shape in football culture - the triangle. Celebrating fans, we used this metaphor for fan power to guide our new brand. From the new logo, bespoke typography, colour palette, grid & motion system that guides all composition.

We launched the new brand with guerilla tactics in the homes of fans; at the biggest home games of the season. As fans took to the streets and terraces, they were greeted with 20ft ‘tifo’ flags emblazoned with the new branding in their team’s colours. Traditional merch sellers outside stadiums gave away custom merch. At the same time partner clubs posted their bespoke logo colourways on their socials, proudly announcing that they were ‘in the club’.

Triangles were showing up everywhere in the lives of football fans, and when excitement peaked, we launched a film, fronted by Rapper Dave deconstructing the logo.

List the results

The new global brand identity was embraced across matches, clubs, fans, players and gamers. Labelled by the BBC as the biggest rebrand in entertainment history.

EA Sports FC outperformed expectations delivering 7% year-over-year net bookings growth as momentum continued through the FC brand transition.

According to the Financial Times, 6.8m people took part in EA Sports FC 24’s early access-period - 25% more than FIFA 23’s early access period had attracted. It’s their biggest early-access audience to date.

Since the launch the game has consistently featured in the most played titles on Xbox & PlayStation gathering 11.3m users within its first week of release. EA Sports FC 24 had the brand’s strongest game launch ever - with statistics topping any of its previous launches with FIFA.

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