Marketing Plan

26/10/2011

Erasmus student: Piero Rosano

The battle is on the field of sales

Abstract

Battlefield 3 is a first-person shooter action video game developed by EA Digital Illusions CE and published by Electronic Arts. The game was released on October 25, 2011 on Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox

360 and EA Mobile

It is a direct sequel to 2005's Battlefield 2, and the eleventh installment in the Battlefield franchise. The PC release is exclusive to EA's Origin platform.

The sales growth and the risks due to the introduction of a game are discussed in this marketing

plan.Some of the numbers refer to similar cases that have proved particularly popular in the U.S. and

other countries where the sale of video games is very high.

Sommario1.0 Introduction of the company:............................................................................................4

1.1 Vision................................................................................................................................5

1.2 Objectives.........................................................................................................................5

2.0 Target Markets..................................................................................................................5

2.4.1 Needs and Requirements.........................................................................................6

2.4.2 Competitive Forces..................................................................................................6

2.4.3 Keys to Success.......................................................................................................6

3.0 Marketing Plan Strategy....................................................................................................7

3.1 The in-game promotion.....................................................................................................7

4.0 Expense Budget Summary................................................................................................8

4.1 Video game revenue, The video games environment......................................................9

4.2 Marketing expense..........................................................................................................10

5.0 Success Metrics...............................................................................................................10

6.0 Who are competitors?.......................................................................................................11

6.1 SWOT Analysis..............................................................................................................12

7.0 Marketing Organization...................................................................................................13

8.0 Conclusion.........................................................................................................................13

Resources.................................................................................................................................13

1.0 Introduction of the company:

EA Digital Illusions Creative Entertainment AB (EA DICE, or just DICE) is a Swedish video game

developer, wholly owned by Electronic Arts, best known for the Battlefield video game series

and Mirror's Edge.

At the beginning says it was composed by a group of programmers called

emoscene belonging to TSL (short for The Silents), a clear reference to them is visible

in Motorhead, where there are banners and symbols written with GRT, whichstands in the

game manual is explained by the term "Trans-atlantic Speed League."All members are from

the city of Växjö and Alvesta.

For an extended period of time, while employees were studying at the University of Växjö, the

office of the company consisted of a dorm room. During this time the company produced a

series of pinball for the Amiga 500, as Pinball Dreams, PinballFantasies and Pinball Illusions.

In 1998 the company was registered at the Swedish Stock Exchange and since then had

a great expansion. The video game Codename Eagle became a cult, but the big move to

Digital Illusions Creative Entertainment did the development of a series offirst-person

shooter titled Battlefield produced by EA. As a result, in 2004 the total value of the company

was estimated at $ 55 million U.S. dollars (USD).

In January 2000 the company acquired the studies of Refraction Games and 90% of

Synergenix Interactive. In March of 2001 through the acquisition of Sandbox Studios came into

possession of a study in Canada, Ontario.

Acquisition by EA 

In November 2004, Electronic Arts announced its intention to acquire the company's shares at

a price of 61 SEK per share: the board of directors of the company recommended to accept the

offer, and EA acquired 62% of the company March 31, 2005. On 2 October 2006 and complete

the acquisition and the price of SEK 67.50per share 2,600,000 shares bought by paying a total

of 1,175,500,000 crowns.

Digital Illusions Creative Entertainment became one of the studies of EA and the EA

CEO Patrick Söderlund Studio became general manager.  The Canadian study was

closed immediately after the acquisition.

1.1 Vision

The vision of the Company about the game in question: to be able to play in a more real as

possible urban warfare  it is thought that there is a playable co-op up to 40 players on the

network.

The team's software development experience to create timely games quickly. The marketing

challenge is to attract visibility quickly and intend to accomplish this by leveraging a multi-

pronged approach that involves social media, email marketing and search engine optimization

strategies to gain market share. The word of mouth in this sector is really important.

1.2 Objectives

Generate over $ 2 million in sales by the end of year 1.

2.0 Target Markets

The ideal customer is between the ages of 18 and 30 who enjoys playing video games.

potential customers have some of the best existing technologies.

therefore the salary range is medium-high.

The game in question, has some features like the rawness of the images, for this, is not

recommended for sale to an underage.

Typically customers are singles  male, and have access to homecomputer, PC or Mac .

They have a wide range of disposable income. Some are teenagers living at home,

others are college students or Those Who have joined the work force in the last 5 years.

Many of readers and followers of the Dice company are usually on the webpage for publish new

comments and ratings . it's necessary include trackable links within the email marketing

messages.

Those who click to find more information about a game will be directed to landing pages, which

are web pages that contain more information about a specific game, including details and links

to download the demo of the games. These landing pages will be optimized for search engines

(the use of SEO, search engine optimization, is indispensable) so that when Internet users

search on various keywords, the pages will rank highly in their search results.

Using online analytics tools, we will be able to see how many people click on various links in

our media campaigns to go to the landing pages and how many click to download each demo

games.

2.4.1 Needs and Requirements

The company want’s to catch males (and females, though it is a smaller proportion of the

defined customer base) between 18 and 30 realize that this group has a lot of spending power.

This age group is not yet used to saving money so they typically spend a lot of what they earn.

Vice Presidents and Chief Marketing Officers of these organizations want to reach this market

early and need to do so in catchy, creative ways.

2.4.2 Competitive Forces

There are a lot of software developers targeting organizations to build custom games. Some

are developing games overseas at lower costs. Even some of the larger domestic companies

outsource portions of their game development.

the company has the best heads for catching the right people and make a serious

customership, because the marketing sector is advanced and EA in this sector has a really

good experience.

2.4.3 Keys to Success

The primary key to success is to be able to show case studies in which other companies

leveraged the power of video games to reach and conquer their market.

This is possible in this specific case, because, the company in the past sold a lot of copy of all

videogames.

In addition the company in question is always present in the stands around

the world,advertising and brand awareness is extremely high.

Furthermore, the money available to reach potential customers is really a huge sum.

it is a multinational company, we can safely say that: it is well established in allnations, so

they are familiar with the tastes of consumers.

Also in the forums and newspapers the Company continually receive positive feedback about

the quality of the videogames.

The quality is gained through years of experience, so we can say:

success of the past is such an engine of growth.

3.0 Marketing Plan Strategy

The best way for selling videogames is to use several promotion methods: Google Adwords

targeted directly to board games, banner ads on multiplayer and similar online sites,

multiplayer gaming forums, press releases, newsletter announcements, major review sites,

article writing, community forums, PromoSoft PAD service,blogs, entering the Independent

Games Festival.

3.1 The in-game promotion

Marketers have always tried to think outside the box and develop innovative strategies to

advertise their products to their target market. The massive growth of broadcast media has

resulted in marketing messages getting lost in the clutter. This has posed a major challenge for

marketers as they must find alternative means of putting across the advertising message to

their target audience.

In-game advertising is defined as ‘advertising that appears in the video game over the duration

of the game play.’ It can appear as adverts at the corner of the screen and billboards and

hoardings in the background. In exceptional cases, actual products are used in the game. In

other words, in-game advertising is a form of product or brand positioning inside a video game.

It is quite similar to how products and brands are intentionally positioned through film and

television. In-game advertising has provided marketers with an opportunity to position and

promote their products to their target market by targeting gamers especially in the age of high

definition and three-dimensional video gaming experiences. Multinational corporations have

managed to make a place for themselves inside video games through in-game advertising.

These include companies such as Google, Wal-Mart, Nike, Coca Cola, KFC and McDonalds.

Game developers such as Electronics Art (the company in this marketing plan) have capitalized

on in-game advertising through their gaming consoles. Some of their bestselling games include

FIFA, a popular videogame based on football, and Need for Speed, a racing game which

features some of best modern day sports cars available in the market.

Need for Speed provides the best platform for an Automobile manufacturer to showcase their

brand and upcoming models. FIFA, on the other hand, gives its gamers the opportunity to play

as their favourite teams such as Manchester United or FC Barcelona where on occasion brands

associated with the team, as well as the specific tournament league are prominently visible

throughout the game. These include the official sponsor of the team as the whole league and

the logo of the apparel manufacturer. Not to mention the hoardings that on the edge of the

pitch that display various brands as they do in real life during an actual game.

Many companies and brands are attracted to the idea of in-game advertising as it enables

them to innovatively break the clutter. Since most gamers like to play continuously for hours, it

is an effective medium for reaching out to and expanding the target market.

However there are limitations to what marketers can achieve through in-game advertising and

their efforts to communicate their message can also prove to be ineffective. Marketers must be

fully aware that their audience might not be mature enough to understand the signals

communicated to them or responsive to the message. This might result in the message going

largely unnoticed. message going largely unnoticed.

the company has used the in-game promotion, in some games by placing images of

Battlefield 3 in some of its games.

4.0 Expense Budget Summary

Marketing expenses are mostly for staff required to do the marketing activities listed. The vast

majority of the software tools needed to implement the activities, such as analytics and landing

page creation, are available for a not really expensive price because the company have the

past experience and hardware for make videogames.

for research and development in recent years EA has presented these data

Electronic Arts produces more than 250 games in roughly 5 years.

The costs of ReD for each game is around the $ 800,000

4.1 Video game revenue, The video games environment

Some data:

About the Italy the sell exceeded 1.25 million booking copies, this is a really good way to start.

About the revenue, the example under explain the market in U.S.A.

 

An example of sales of video games.

Call of duty and Gears of War are really similar to the product in analysis, the company thinks

to overcome this products.

4.2 Marketing expense

About the advertising cost this is a short table, referred to the US market.

Data are in millions, EA has in the states 19.8 percent of the market

We can say this:

(1000*19,8 percent) = 198 million for all the Videogames product, about every single game we

can say: around 3 million for the first year.

5.0 Success Metrics

the wait for this game has already been rewarded by the best newspapers and major annual

events in the field of video games

6.0 Who are competitors?

the video game industry is full of competitors.

What is important is the affirmation of the brand, and especially to convince potential

customers of the value of the game.

But every game is unique and special features, one of the biggest rivals of the company

is Bungie interactive, author of Halo, a game of enormous success.

Electronic Arts is the first company in the US Market.

SWOT Analysis

ThreatsSome companies are competitors in offering simi

lar product.-illegal

downloads- international

campaigns against violence

Weaknesses- High

production costs

-High advertising

costs-high price

-Violence in the game

Opportunities-Ability to create an

excellent relationship

with customers-Story in line with previous

-Ability to continue succes

sful market entry

Strengths-Game

with high definition graphics

-realistic scenarios

-Possibility of online gaming

valid plot

Is one the best company in the world, and is really symply to conquer the market, because the

brand name is really famous and is a synonimous of guarantee.

6.1 SWOT Analysis

7.0 Marketing Organization

EA DICE is a big company. The team is composed of the best programmers in the world

Together with a team of local and international software development staff, the company is

able to bring to market a wide array of unique games that provide an experience that other

gaming companies do not.

8.0 Conclusion

Video game advertising,is going through such an evolution, offering marketers new methods

to reach consumers in ways that make a positive impact. Brands can become part of the

storyline in top console games, engage consumers with advergames, and participate in virtual

worlds.

In addition, the largest game releases such as Grand Theft Auto IV and Halo 3 are of such high

quality, they create bigger social events than some of the largest Hollywood blockbusters. In

addition, like Hollywood blockbusters, many major games titles are released globally, offering

dynamic advertising opportunities as ‘local’ as the marketer desires. All that flexibility means

there’s a fit for almost any brand and any demographic, from teens to moms, and from

businesspeople to seniors

Resources

Wikipedia

http://www.morebusiness.com/

Games award

http://www.ea.com/

Strategy and competition. How to create, sustain and defend the competitive advantage of

firms and nations. Michael Porter, 2007.