英国assignment：EA公司的营销组合分析

产品
 

在一个涉及大量市场调研的市场中引入一个新产品。市场调研能为组织提供信息，例如当前的市场发展趋势和全球市场的竞争对手等。市场调研也能为行业提供客户的详细需求信息。在研发一种特殊产品时，价格、渠道和促销因素也都起着至关重要的作用。以上四种元素构成了产品的生命周期。
 

“产品的决策还包括品牌名称、保证、包装和服务。” (乔伯，2007年，第19页)
 

美国艺电公司（EA）从一开始就从事软件生产，它在视频游戏的早期阶段也非常著名。1983年，EA的第一个产品研发成功，这个产品是为游戏玩家设计的雅达利8位机。之后，他们就开始生产Commodore 64电脑游戏。“Skyfox”是EA专门为苹果II型电脑开发的游戏。
 

在80年代后期，EA从科乐美获得了灵感，研发了一种夏季街机游戏。在二十世纪九十年代，EA开始研发墨盒，这与世嘉开发的产品有非常相似之处。尽管EA面临着法律起诉的危险，但是他们还是继续生产墨盒。
 

产品———PRODUCT
 

Introducing a new product in to the market involves a lot of market research. A market research provides the organization with information about the current market trend and its competitors in the global market. Market research will also provide the industry a detailed study of customer needs. During the launch of a particular product, the pricing, place and the promotional elements also plays a vital role. All these above 4p’s will form the product life cycle.
 

‘Decision on products also includes brand names, guarantee, packaging and services’ (Jobber, D. 2007:p.19)
 

EA from the beginning was flexible by producing software that was very famous during the early stages of video games. In 1983, EA’s first product was shipped and it was a game for Atari 800 game player. They also started to produce games for commodore 64 computers. ‘Skyfox’ was the game developed by EA especially for apple II computers.
 

In the later stage of 80’s EA gained idea from konami and produced summer arcade games. EA in 1990’s started producing cartridges that were exactly alike the ones produced by sega. Even though EA was forced to face legal threats they continued producing the cartridges.
 

The most significant contribution to the hardware development was EA established a joint-venture with a technology company; 3DO Inc. EA became the largest of the original shareholders of 3DO, which owned 20 percent of the total share. The quality of sound and graphics provided by the 3DO cannot be matched with the video games played on a television set. In 1993 EA became the first company to sell games in the 3DO format, which became the new trend among the video games.#p#分页标题#e#
 

EA的产品组合———PRODUCT MIX OF EA
 

EA has released a numerous number of products in the field of video games. EA understood the customer needs and created games that also involved human life. EA has categorized its products into 3 segments namely ACTION, ADVENTUROUS, SPORTS. Most of the EA games are released on a yearly basis but since EA holds the official license of various sporting events like FIFA, NBA and NFL it releases various versions of the same game in a given single year.
 

EA games label is a heart of large number of EA studios and that has a huge development team that produces numerous numbers of games every year in the various genres such as action, adventure, role playing, racing etc. EA develops online gaming where people from different parts of the world meet and play.
 

EA Play Label is another group that creates games filled with fun and experience that can be played by people of all age group. EA Play label creates games that are based on original IP and licensed IP. The Sims game sold over 100 million units world-wide which was originally launched in the year 2000. The reason for the huge success has been the gameplay features of these games.
 

Electronic arts earlier in the year announced officially that it has acquired social gaming company ‘Playfish’ for a whooping amount of $400 million. Interestingly ‘Playfish’ is very famous among the social networking websites which includes facebook, myspace etc.
 

The latest development of EA is in mobile phone technology and they have also started to produce java supported games for mobile phones. EA mobile also produces games of different genre to fit different age group of people.
 

电子艺界———ELECTRONIC ARTS

 

In the year 2008 EA released around 110 games with new titles and some of them were the extensions of the existing top rated games. EA are producing games at a faster rate and in very efficient way due its extensive restructuring. EA produced 150 games approximately for the year 2009 which is considered to be ever time high in the history. It has also signed a contract with HASBRO for the online development of the Hasbro games like Hasbro family game night and LITTLEST PET SHOP which are very famous among the social networking websites. In 2009 EA also acquired the famous VGH which allowed EA to develop more interactive online games. ‘Dragon Age Of The PC’ a new role playing game released in the year 2009 and it proved to be a great hit in the market.
 

In 2003 EA announced officially that it has joined hands with the popular CLUB POGO in producing the online games. Within 2 years time the company’s subscription service for the diehard online gamers reached a new height by having its millionth player subscribing for the pogo club. According the ComScore the members of pogo club have prompted the website to become one of the stickiest over the web.#p#分页标题#e#
 

EA came up with different slogans for its different segments to attract its customers. Initially EA Sports had its slogan as “EA sports if it’s in the game, It’s in the game” and later it was shortened to become “EA sports-It’s in the game” while EA games had a different slogan that of the EA sports it says “EA games- Challenge everything”.
 

EA’s logo though went through several changes along the years. Initially the logo had classic square/ circle/ triangle these design represented the ‘the basic design of graphic design’. Many people were confused and misunderstood the whole concept of the logo. Finally from 1999 a new logo and a common logo was designed which is used by all its 3 segments. The new logo attracted all ages of people and it is this logo that is printed on the top of all the CD/DVD.
 

EA官方标志———Official Logo of EA
 

促销组合———PROMOTIONAL MIX
 

Brand promotion plays a vital role in accelerating the sales of a particular product. To increase the sales of a particular product attractive price and quality product alone is not enough; the most important factor is to communicate the benefits of the products to the customer. A promotional mix is a combination of different elements like advertising, personal selling, direct marketing, internet promotion, sales promotion and publicity. EA too follows the above said promotional mix elements in various ways. A major part of the EA advertising budget falls under internet promotion.
 

市场营销组合要素———The elements of marketing mix
 

广告———ADVERTISING
 

‘Any paid form of non-personal communication of ideas or products in the prime media, i.e. television, the press, outdoor, cinema and radio’ (Jobber, D.2007:P.498). In 21st century television and radio proves to be the most powerful medium to convey essential information to masses. Many organisations opt to stake more amount of money in advertising as it forms the most basis of the promotion mix. In 2008 TV giant star sports started a tv show ‘Game’ which showcases and provides views, reviews of all gaming products. EA is the co sponsor of this ‘Game’ tv show and it proves to be one of the big reasons for EA’s reason hits. EA also invests a good amount of money in producing trailers of the upcoming games which are aired at regular intervals at all hotspot areas.
 

EA uses all the latest technology in advertising field in this way all its products are in constant sync with its customers. EA games were also based on the famous movies in the recent years for example game on james bond, harry potter, and the sims are quite noticeable evidence. The character of these Hollywood flicks is used by EA for promoting the games as well. Tiger woods the world number 1 golfer has been appointed as the brand ambassador for EA officially. EA holds the official license for NFL and FIFA. EA brand promotion is also done through the digital advertising boards which are kept as the boundaries in the FIFA football matches.#p#分页标题#e#
 

EA and Dr Pepper entered a new media partnership very recently. According to the deal people who buy the 20-ounce participating bottle of Dr Pepper will have the exclusive download of Sims or body parts of other spore creatures and other add-ons throughout the entire year.
 

互联网———INTERNET
 

Internet more popularly known as WWW is the most inexpensive but still powerful of all elements of promotional mix. ‘Promotion of products to the consumers through electronic media’ (Jobber, D.2007:P.498). Almost all the businesses are turning towards the internet to sell their products and advertise them. EA not to be left out among all the businesses took internet has its biggest advantage for their advertising and better means to communicate to their customers. With the number of social networking websites increasing EA introduced online gaming through some these websites namely facebook and twitter etc.
 

AOL and EA entered an agreement through which Electronics Arts will be the sole supplier of to America (pressbox.co.uk, 1999). Pogo Club and EA jointly have started an online gaming website popularly known which reached new heights within very short span of time. EA and pogo clearly understood the customer needs and introduced the first ever EA coupon system which carried the discounts as well as free gifts. EA had a better online strategy the company offered an interesting offer over online game selling according to this people who buy 2 EA sports game online gets the third EA sports game for free.
 

个人出售———PERSONAL SELLING
 

‘Oral communication with the prospective purchasers with the intention of making a sale’ (Jobber, D.2007:P.498). EA often conducts multiplayer events in malls and gaming centre’s throughout a year. FIFA multiplayer competition is the hot favorite among the diehard gamers. EA selects many hotspots in selected areas and that usually targets the age group 10 - 25 to sell their products. EA in its recent press release stated that EA and Fat Boy LLC of USA will jointly launch THE SIMS 3 FATBOY gaming chairs. The release of these gaming chairs will happen in Canada later this year where Dell, EA and FAT BOY LLC come together for the biggest winter event. The participants of the event will get a chance to win cool prizes along with THE SIMS 3 game.
 

公共关系———PUBLIC RELATION
 

Public relation is defined as ‘The management of communications and relationships to establish goodwill and mutual understanding between the organisation and the public’ (Jobber, D.2007:P.646). Public relation is considered to the most powerful tool in the promotion mix as it creates the awareness and helps the organisation to lift its reputation. EA focuses a lot in maintaining a good rapture with the press, media, and the general public. EA in turn has its own internal PR website which concentrates more on its investors. All the latest news about the organisation, its recent achievements and product updates is available in EA PR website investor.ea.com. EA has also got a separate website to carry their press releases so that the investors and the customers are well aware of the most happening of the company.#p#分页标题#e#
 

促销———SALES PROMOTION
 

‘Sales promotions are incentives to the consumers or the trade that are designed to simulate purchase’ (Jobber, D.2007:P.637). EA is also one among the companies to be affected by the recent recession. In order to increase the sales EA is also engaged in rewarding its customers in many ways. As discussed above EA and DR Pepper launched a marketing program by which EA started attracting more customers and thereby increasing its sales.
 

直接营销———DIRECT MARKETING
 

‘Direct marketing attempts to acquire and retain customers by contacting the customers directly without the use of an intermediary’ (Jobber, D.2007:P.646).