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