It's Saturday. Like many husbands across this great land, that means I get to spend a good portion of my day dying slowly at the mall while my wife searches for some article of clothing she swears she has to replace. Today, it's boots at Macy's - and yes, she's using my Card Rewards to boot. Great...So, after sitting uncomfortably in the shoe department with her for 5 minutes, I realize she's going to be a while. I tell her to call me when she's done, and I head down the mall to kill some time looking at merchandise I might want to buy. And that's when I saw it.
Madden Challenge 2008 was at the mall. Best Buy and Madden's maker, EA, set up a few dozen stations for mallrats like me to play the game. Just in case you didn't know how, you could choose to gather round a makeshift living room with a nice big screen where local, self-styled Madden wonders could compete for a chance to win $85K in prizes. The "living room" was packed.I'm a recent convert to Madden, playing the simplified version on my Wii (I simply can't make time to read the manual and play the advanced version). Knowing my limitations, then, I joined the crowd huddled around the couch. Some guy, playing as the Jacksonville Jaguars, was laying the smackdown on another guy, playing as the Dallas Cowboys. This being a Philly suburb, the Cowboys guy wasn't getting any sympathy as the Jaguars shut him out, including a goal line stop in the final seconds of the game. The excitement was so palpable, you would've thought it was a real-live NFL game.
This made me wonder: Madden - as an entertainment property - is in its 20th year. The game is as good as its ever been, with interaction and graphics to match. Is this kind of marketing necessary?
The answer - I think, pretty obviously - is "Of course not". This kind of guerrilla marketing - complete with pretty girls hired just to man the signup booth - probably isn't going to push sales much more. The market's pretty saturated.
Nevertheless, EA is being really smart here. It's not about the sales, as much as it is about feeding the subculture. That slice of America that get together on a friend's couch and competes for bragging rights. That slice of America that completes a football play with a few finger clicks and shouts "DON'T TRY ME, MAN! DON'T DO IT!"- like I saw one 12 year old do to his older brother. That slice of America that likes to bust its friends chops for making a bad call. That slice of America that wants to imagine themselves actually commanding a football team. If they can win a free trip to the Caribbean and play for $85K, too, so much the better.
Here's an article I found on the tour. Apparently, there are bigger events to be visited. So, here's a listing of the schedule. Check one out if you can. It's a lot more fun than waiting around for your wife...
