IndustryGamers - Informing the Games Industry

Interview: EA's Media Play

Posted June 30, 2009 by James Brightman

IndustryGamers recently met for lunch in New York City with EA's Elizabeth Harz, Senior Vice president of Global Media Sales. Not only did she give us the scoop on EA's major Dr Pepper marketing partnership, but more importantly she filled us in on how EA is pushing itself as a media company, much like a Yahoo or AOL. In fact, Harz came over to EA from Yahoo to aid the company in this transformation.  

Elizabeth Harz is super excited about the possibilities of advertising in the games space.

“When I got the call [from EA], I thought it was very interesting, being a media person at my core. Fundamentally, it's undeniable what's going on in this space [video games], looking at the change in consumer trends. With EA you have an incredible content company with some of the most impressive content I've ever experienced, and you have people who are very passionate about these brands whether it's Warhammer, The Sims, etc.  So the call was basically, 'Can you help us as the business model in this space evolves?'  There are subscriptions, micro-transactions, advertising models... all these pieces that weren't the core of what this business was built on in the first 25 years.  So for me it made a lot of sense because I like to be able to connect marketers with consumers through new technologies and new platforms, but in ways that are really respectful of the consumer experience,” she began. 

So when Harz joined EA, she immediately spearheaded a global media sales division, which is modeled after a traditional media company. “Our function is to get in early with the developers and understand what the roadmap is, as well as to get in early with key partners that are innovative, respect the consumer experience and who will be good partners to work with. Then we collaborate and ask 'What's the best solution here?'” Harz noted.  

There's no doubt that video games can be every bit as important to brand marketers as other other forms of entertainment, whether TV, the web, or print. In fact, the core demographic that so many marketers are after is spending less and less time watching TV anyway, so why not leverage the medium of their choice, video games? Harz pointed to (at the time) presidential candidate Obama using dynamic in-game advertising to his advantage. It's a prime example of just how important games have become. His campaign was able to hit a specific audience within specific geographies, thanks to dynamic in-game ads.  

“The 18-34 [demo] is and will remain such an important target. I worked across categories and across vertical industries at Yahoo... and these brands, even in these challenging financial times, still spend a lot of money advertising. It's a $500 billion market. It is so hard to reach men 18-34 because they're not watching TV anymore, they don't read print... and so with games, it's not just where they are but it's the engagement that exists. When somebody spends 50 hours playing a game [they're not distracted]. They aren't instant messaging at the same time,” she said. 

As for the previously announced Dr Pepper deal, Harz stressed that the deal will be “additive” and will not detract from gameplay in The Sims 3 (or future titles that will be announced as part of the partnership). “It's important as marketers to be respectful of the user experience... We're not just sticking a Dr Pepper [can] in a game,” she said.  

James Brightman has been covering the games industry since 2003 and has been an avid gamer ever since the days of Atari and Intellivision. He was previously the EIC of GameDaily Biz.