Fewer people are playing Madden than they once did, despite the fact that NFL ratings are higher than ever. To launch Madden NFL 15, EA Games needed the popular franchise to regain its cultural relevance and connect with a new generation of football fans.
We created Madden GIFERATOR, a real-time NFL GIF engine that let fans celebrate winning moments and zing their rivals throughout the season. For every NFL game, GIFERATOR generated a live stream of animated GIFs triggered by the action unfolding on TV.
With each brag-worthy play, GIFERATOR dynamically combined relevant game footage, stinging headlines, and dynamic stats for real-time delivery at the height of conversation. Fans could also take control of the GIFERATOR and create their own GIFs on any device.
GIFERATOR ran as a second-screen experience for every single NFL game, keeping Madden relevant all season long. Real-time ads, tailored to fans of each of the 32 NFL teams, were delivered just seconds after events happened on TV, reaching them on second screen devices where they were already looking for content about their favorite teams and live games.
GIFERATOR exploded into every corner of online culture with massive adoption by fans, NFL teams and players, and even other brands. More than 160 media outlets piled in, fanning the flames for what quickly grew to become one of the year's top memes. With its epic scale and targeted reach, GIFERATOR set a new standard for real-time marketing.
Madden GIFERATOR dominated the social web, and exploded across multiple social channels during the 2014 NFL regular season. GIFERATOR launched for NFL's kick-off weekend and by Monday was used to create over 200,000 GIFs. NFL teams, players, and fans quickly adopted GIFERATOR as a bullhorn for anything and everything football.
GIFERATOR then catapulted into popular culture as it began trending on Tumblr, spawned its own subreddit, and exploded on Twitter.
Madden GIFERATOR built on the insight that video game fans share a passion for football with the larger NFL audience. The campaign created a new language for those viewing live games throughout the season to taunt friends by using content from Madden 15. People who cared about football cared about Madden GIFERATOR, whether they actually considered themselves fans of the video game previously. Optimizing for second-screen devices ensured the campaign would connect with the young audience EA Sports hoped to introduce to the Madden franchise, in a way that felt edgy, contemporary, and authentic.
GIFERATOR reacted to NFL rivalries and matched content from the Madden video game with great live moments throughout the NFL season, in a package that was designed to be easily shared throughout social media and from multiple devices. The campaign built a massive wave of attention on social media from fans, press, including people who admitted they cared nothing for football but seized the opportunity to harness Madden GIFERATOR for creating great shareable social content.
