Game On: EA Sports Seeks Fan, Consumer Vote For 'NCAA Football 13' Cover
Monday, December 17, 2012 at 01:58PM Special to NYSportsJournalism.com
December 17, 2012: EA Sports is getting into the frenzy of college football bowl season with a campaign in which fans are being given the power to select the next cover for the EA Sports NCAA Football 13 video game.
Now through Dec. 31, people are being encouraged to visit a dedicated Facebook page to chose from among 126 schools from 11 Conferences plus independent schools Army, Brigham Young, Navy and No. 1 ranked Notre Dame.
EA Sports is supporting with a multi-media campaign that includes TV, Internet and such social media sites Twitter and YouTube, in addition to Facebook. (See the commercial here.)
In the TV spot, a map of the U.S. with flags representing the universities and locations in the campaign is shown against action scenes from the videogame. Text offers, "Represent your school. 126 schools. One cover. Go vote!"
EA Sports is driving activation through social media by featuring "specific conferences, teams, traditions and more" on Facebook and Twitter in an effort to engage fans and kick-start voting.
EA Sports said the initial round of voting would narrow the field down from 126 to 32 The next round of voting would follow.
The videogamer is also encouraging "true fans . . . to come up with creative ways to represent their team. Impassioned tweets (via the hashtag #NCAACoverVote), Instagram photos of campus landmarks, YouTube videos of university traditions and [other efforts] will all count toward a school’s chances to advance to the next round."