On the evening of 20th August, following months of speculation around who would join world player of the year Lionel Messi on the FIFA 13 pack, we unveiled Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Joe Hart as the new UK cover stars in what was a landmark announcement for the worlds most popular sports video game, streamed exclusively on EA SPORTS FIFA Facebook and YouTube channels.
This followed a teaser promotion led by EA SPORTS and Clifford French, consisting of a countdown to the event on the EA Sports FIFA custom YouTube channel, release of a silhouette packshot and carefully timed non paid for and promoted tweets incorporating the hashtag #FIFA13UKCOVER.
The live event, produced in the style of a football news conference with a branded backdrop and “Breaking News” strap appearing at the bottom of the screen, was expertly hosted by Sky Sports presenter Adam Leventhal who encouraged viewers to tweet in questions for Alex and Joe using the #FIFA13UKCOVER hashtag.
Less than 4 hours after the live event, which peaked at more than 10,000 concurrent views, a fast paced highlights package was edited and available across EA SPORTS social channels. Within 24 hours of the live stream the press conference and highlights package had received over 60,000 views from football and gaming fans.