MARKETING CONCEPT IN ELECTRONIC ARTS
1.0 TERMS OF REFERENCE
The report will present an implementation of the marketing concept into business strategy of Electronic Arts. The report will evaluate the benefits and cost of the marketing approach in Electronic Arts. All information has to be submitted to Mrs. Susan Campbell, the HNC course co-ordinator on 25th October 2007.
2.0 PROCEDURE
In order to analyse how the marketing concept elements are incorporated into Electronic Arts (EA) overall business plan the following steps has to be taken:
2.1 Electronic Arts main web site has to accessed in order to obtain company business information.
2.2 Internet and book resources have to be scrutinized to collect all relevant data about the Marketing
Concept implementation.
2.3 All aspects of marketing concept has to be assessed against EA policies and analysed
company production, sales and promotion activities.
3.0 FINDINGS
3.1 Satisfying Needs As the Key Business Element
Electronic Arts started creating electronic entrainment software in 1982 and from that day the company grew rapidly becoming the one of world leaders in the industry. The number of employees increased from two people to 7,900 worldwide in the beginning of 2007. Marketing concept is based on analysing and satisfying customer's needs and the management team in EA knows well that the business would not survived if those needs where not meet. Commitment to the customer is expressed in the company Code of Conduct as one of the "Action Values" which are the principles on which the entire business idea is based (see App. 1).
3.1.1 Products for All
Electronic Arts driven by marketing principle of meeting customer needs has created games which relate to nearly all aspects of human life. Sport, strategy, action games and even simulators of everyday life (Sims) are all in the company games portfolio. EA is not leaving any users without the access to their products and the company titles are available on all gaming platforms like Xbox, Playstation, Nintendo and PC.
3.1.2 Software Developers
Many of existing staff in the company used to play the EA games when they started creating their own pieces of work, so back in the days they where the customers gamers who used to buy the company products. Nowadays as they are shaping new titles themselves and they know how important is to adapt to what the new generating of game fans is looking for.
Marketing In this day and age is vital for a company to perform at its possible best. Marketing’s main focus is to give great satisfaction to a customer. There are many aspect of marketing, these aspects give marketer’s the tools to help strive for the best possible success they can achieve. They hope that they can create exposure for their brand, product or service.
Marketing is a process of determining a consumer’s needs, devising a product or service to satisfy those needs, and trying to focus customers on the goods and services you are offering. Marketing is extremely important, and a fundamental building block for business growth. A marketing team is given the task of creating customer awareness through a variety of different marketing techniques. If a business does not pay close attention to their consumer demographic and needs, they will eventually fail over time. Two important aspects of marketing include acquiring new customers, and the preservation and growth of relationships with current customers. Marketing has always been viewed as a creative outlet, which encompassed advertising, distribution, and the selling of goods and services. Marketing staff will also try to anticipate what customers will want in the future, often being accomplished with market research. In summation, a good marketing plan should be able to create a favorable proposition or series of benefits that a customer can value through goods or services. The marketing mix is normally described as the strategic positioning of a product or service in the marketplace, using the specification of the four Ps. During the early 1960’s, Professor E. Jerome McCarthy of Harvard Business School stated that a marketing mix contains four elements. The four key points are product, pricing, promotion, and placement. It is recognized that all these aspects must be present to ensure a successful business model within a given industry. We will now take a thorough look at the four marketing mix points.
Instead of the franchises popularity having a positive impact, overtime, it infected the gaming market along with it’s consumers and developers such as Microsoft Game Studios and EA. It has become an aggrandized cancer on the face of video games everywhere, destroying franchises a...
Kotler, P. & Keller, K.L., (2009), A Framework for Marketing Management. 4th edition, Pearson Prentice Hall: USA
Etzel, Michael J., Stanton, Bruce J., Stanton, William J. (2004). Marketing. (13th ed.). Boston: McGraw-Hill.
The members have been generating client bases in their own related businesses since 1999, previously, the members enjoyed mild success in their own businesses, and have been limited only by capital and available time.
Alphabet Games changed strategy to overcome competitors in the market. Also the technology influence changes in strategic management. A latest technology which Alphabet games quickly realized the need for more than good looks to make great video games. Graphics must be compelling and engaging and fun. Video games have become more like life, the company has adopted the concept of the game worlds and must react in a realistic manner. This led to the development of the player created content. To help in improving the market ability and increase the number of customers. As new technologies are as a rule always acquainted with the business sector, pace is vital for staying focused and new markets must be spearheaded
Video games have come a long way. They have evolved from the simple game of Pong into a complex, multi-platform, multi-genre, multi-billion dollar industry.
Armstrong, G, Adam, S, Denize, S, Kotler, P, 2010, Principles of Marketing 5th Edition, Pearson Australia Group, Frenchs Forest
Introduction Electronic Arts is known for collecting talent through development studios. They are also known for running most of those acquisitions into the ground. Creativity and talent are important aspects that go into creating AAA games, but they are hard to come by. Therefore, many large companies search for acquisitions. From an acquisition, there is usually a lower risk involved than with creating a new game.
A good definition of marketing is the process of the intermediary function between product development and sales. (Reddy ) The field of marketing entails taking a generic product or generic service (the product or services do not have to be “generic” they may be actually unique to the marketplace) and associating the generic product with a brand name (Petty 2001). Under this generic concept are the activities of advertising, public relations, media planning, sales strategy and so on.
Marketing is not a static construct, but it grows and develops over time to become what is known as marketing today. “The marketing revolution divides neatly into four separate eras’, eras’ which parallel rather closely the classic pattern of development in the marketing revolution.” (Keith, 1960). The first of these 4 eras was until the 1930’s and was production and profit orientated, and are considered to be outdated. During this era “the new product decision was product oriented not marketing orientated.” (Keith, 1960). “The second era was a sales oriented era, whereby marketing was seen as a series of activities designed to produce profit through ascertaining, creating, stimulating, and satisfying the needs/wants of a selected segment of the market.” (Eldridge, 1970, p. 4). The 3rd and 4th eras are a representation of what
Too often, a marketing function is misunderstood, because many people do not understand what is meant by ‘Marketing’.
In this paper I will define marketing in my own words and also research what the definition is using two different sources. While supporting my answers with three examples from the business world, I will show the importance of marketing. Marketing applies to many different areas of an organization and after close review I will make it clear on how it relates.
E-commerce has grown significantly over the past years, it has helped small businesses to expand and create new businesses mush easier and faster than before, it also has changed the way they deal with customers and helped the growth of the economy, and more and more businesses are doing their business over the web, all of that shows how important EC is in many aspects and how it will continue emerging between businesses.