EA to Game User: Tiger Woods Walks on Water

By Kyle Austin

August 21st, 2008

 

By Kyle Austin

So you monitor Twitter feeds, Google feeds, what’s going on Digg and in the blogoshere – all to stay current on what people are saying about your brand and to make sure you kill any fire drills before they become bigger in scope. But how do you turn something that could be really bad into something that could be really good?

Or as Mark “Rizzn” Hopkins says “Live the Chinese cliche of turning danger into opportunity.” Well you have to be creative, and apparently those folks over at EA have their creative juices flowing.

Last August a YouTube user named Levinator25 posted a video online of a glitch in Tiger Woods 2008. The apparent glitch allowed the virtual Tiger to take a shot in the middle of a water hazard as effortlessly as he would on land.

 

Well those creative folks over at EA monitor YouTube. They apparently heard the chatter around the glitch with serious gamers and it wasn’t lost on them. So nearly a year later as EA made Tiger Woods 2009 demos available online in advance of the game hitting the shelves, they cleverly tied the glitch into their marketing campaign.

In the YouTube video posted on Tuesday and specifically addressed to Levinator25, EA notes:

“Levinator25, you seem to think your Jesus Shot Video was a glitch in the Game. It’s not a Glitch. He’s just that good.”

The funny thing is, after what Woods did at this year’s U.S. Open, it really wouldn’t suprise me if he walks on water.

Entry Filed under: Branding & Advertising,Digital Media Relations,Marketing,Public relations,Technology & Innovation