‘Glory or Nothing’: How EA Sports Is Carving Out a New Brand in Post-FIFA Evolution

It’s a new era for generations of soccer and gaming fans. Last year, publisher EA Sports split with FIFA, soccer’s global governing body, ending a three-decade licensing deal. The breakup means that one of the most popular and enduring gaming franchises can no longer call itself FIFA and has been renamed to EA Sports FC as of this year.  

For EA, this presents a significant marketing challenge—for while the title FIFA is ubiquitous, players may be less familiar with the publisher’s name. Now, EA has unveiled its new identity to fans and is attempting to cement its place in the fabric of soccer as it enters a crucial period for the brand.

“We felt an immense responsibility to effectively rebrand one of the biggest properties in sports entertainment—no mean feat,” David Jackson, vice-president of brand at EA Sports FC, told Adweek.

EA Sports sums up its transition like this: it is evolving from “a video game product powered by global [soccer] to a global [soccer] platform powered by multiple video games,” according to Jackson. “This is one of the reasons we made the seismic decision to carve our own path and our own brand.”

EA still has more than 300 licensed partners, with access to over 19,000 athletes across 700 teams and 30 leagues. But with the name change, “consumer confusion is understandable–FIFA has been synonymous with the game for decades,” Jackson said. 

‘Hidden in plain sight’

The rebranding process began about 18 months ago when EA consulted sports media business Copa90. One of the truths they uncovered was that the game “is one of those generational properties, like the Marvels or Star Wars of the world. It sits in that rarefied space, where parents may play with their kids or siblings play with each other,” he said. 

EA then hired London-based agency Uncommon Creative Studio to develop its new brand identity and logo. Within the brief that EA issued to Uncommon, this line jumped out at the creative team: “[Soccer] comes in many colors but very few shapes.” 

That phrase sparked the idea to focus on literal shapes in the design, and that was how Uncommon discovered one that has long been important to both soccer and EA: the triangle. 

Triangles are the most common pattern in soccer and frequently appear on the pitch. They have also been found in the isometric angles of EA’s first 8-bit experiences, the polygons that make up pixels in its modern games, and as the player control indicator that appears above athletes in the video games. It made sense, then, for EA Sports FC’s new logo to also be a triangle shape. 

“[The triangle] has been hiding in plain sight. We just had to do a great job of revealing it,” said Uncommon co-founder Nils Leonard.

The big reveal

EA unveiled its triangular identity through a series of surprise appearances during a busy soccer week in April. Fans could see the logo in 128 games across global leagues, including the Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga and Serie A. Stars such as David Beckham and Zinedine Zidane shared it through their own channels, and it popped up outside stadiums, on food wrappers and on merch such as scarves, flags and stickers. Pepsi also featured the design on some of its cans. 

In an unplanned moment of publicity, Real Madrid player Karim Benzema held a flag with EA Sports FC’s logo in his teeth during a game.

“We felt like we’ll never be fully done, but that was a great milestone,” said Jackson. 

The next chapter

As Jackson alludes to, unveiling the identity is “the first chapter in a longer story we need to tell,” he continued. EA has planned activities over the next few months to educate fans about the brand change. For example, it released a video starring British rapper Dave. 

In July, EA will launch a major campaign talking about the future of the platform and showcasing its new products. 

While Jackson said reaction to the new identity has been largely positive so far, he and his team also feel the weight of the brand’s legacy: “The more familiar people are with the current brand, the higher their expectations,” he said. 

Despite the pressure of appealing to generations of fans, Jackson’s advice to other brand leaders approaching a pivot is not to take the easy route. 

“We’d love if people love what we built, but we don’t mind if people absolutely hate it as well. The one thing we couldn’t be is ignored or irrelevant in the middle,” he said. “You see a lot of safety now, a lot of derivative work [from brands]. We don’t operate in the margins of ‘fine.’ Football is win or lose—glory or nothing.”