Madden ‘owns’ NFL games. But that didn’t mean business was soaring. So, to promote the 30th installment in the Madden NFL series, EA Sports decided to get social media spreading its word by creating a real time ‘game’ that fused its own games with real NFL matches to create a new game for NFL fans – sticking it to your rivals.
Enter the EA Sports Madden Giferator, an in-house GIF generator that lets users create their own animated GIFs, fusing live NFL data with Madden NFL 15 footage. The real-time GIF highlights may be created for every game, all season long. Because Giferator uses the Madden game engine to create its GIFS, those who use it get to see 1.) how powerful the game engine is, and 2.) the detail of the graphics.
Users can share their Madden GIFs almost anywhere, but Twitter with its meme friendly nature was the primary target. The idea was to get team supporters sending challenges, successes and up-yous to their own and rival supporters, supplemented by ads created in real time and placed everywhere NFL fans were watching.
