Spinning Negative into Positive

EA Games responds to glitch with Tiger Woods Jesus walk video

I came across an interesting video yesterday and decided to look into it a little more. The video begins with a screen capture of a Youtube video where you can hear a kid narrating in the background, explaining (sarcastically) how great the new feature (glitch) in Tiger Woods 09 by EA Sports is that allows you to walk and take shots on water.

The video flashed text directed at the user who posted the original video saying “you seem to think it was a glitch in the game.” The video switches to a shot of Tiger Woods dropping a shot on top of the water and taking his shoes off and walking across the water (in real life) to take the shot. After he sinks the shot, the text reappears stating “he’s just that good.

I found this to be very interesting, and it was a creative way to spin the negativity that stems from a glitch in games. For arguments sake, I will ignore the possibility that the glitch and response were planned by EA as a publicity stunt, and comment on how the media company (EA) was able to work with their agency to create a funny, interesting way to spin the glitch.

This undoubtedly has had a direct impact on EA, as the publicity that has stemmed from this error has turned from negative to positive. It also has an impact on the consumer because their video response has gone viral and has been viewed well over 2 million times on Youtube.

The unique PR gives me creative insight on potential disaster recovery and spin marketing. It shows how a company can turn negative press that has a potential impact on sales and revenue into positive press that provides positive brand exposure

The article can be found here

Back to the Blog

A new school year and a new program means more blogging!

I will take this opportunity to reintroduce myself. I am an Advertising Media Management student at Centennial College in Toronto. I have recently committed an honours B.A. in Mass Communication Studies and Multimedia, and I have always been interested in new media and its place in communication (particularly advertising and promotional communication).

When I'm not at school I am typically watching, reading about, or playing sports. I currently play hockey through both the winter and summer, and I am an active snowboarder during the snowy months. I follow Hockey, Football, Baseball and Basketball all fairly closely (especially the first two).

This blog will be used as my opportunity to comment on interactive media in the news. Typically, I will find an article or news segment that i find rather interesting, summarize it, and provide some input on my opinions related to the information that it provides.

I find many types of new media interesting, but I will likely concentrate on topics related to communication. This will likely include (but not be limited to...) social networking, interactive marketing and media in politics.

I hope that my blog can be used as an opportunity for not only me to share my thoughts, but also as a forum for discussion with my peers. I am interested in any commentary that anybody would like to share... please comment on my posts or email me at gsgerber@gmail.com.

That's it for now... I'll leave you with a funny video outlining the potential disasters of using Wikipedia as a credible source.

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.