NEW YORK While you won't be hearing John Madden call any football games this year, the iconic game bearing his name will be impossible to miss during the pre-season debut of Monday Night Football. The broadcast, which airs on Aug. 13, will mark the kickoff of EA Sports' extensive "Fight for every yard" advertising campaign for Madden NFL 10.
Six spots for the perennial top-selling title will air during the pre-season matchup of Super Bowl XLIII combatants the Pittsburgh Steelers and Arizona Cardinals. The Steelers' Troy Polamalu and Cardinals' Larry Fitzgerald are the game's cover athletes as well as the stars of one of the ads slated to break that night.
Madden NFL 10 will be integrated into the ESPN broadcast and featured via 10-second "mini-mercials" during SportsCenter on Aug. 14.
Following the game, ESPN2 will air the Madden NFL 10 Pigskin Pro-Am Game. Content from the Pigskin Pro-Am special will also air on the NFL Network, VH1 and Spike TV later in the month.
Nathan Stewart, director of marketing at EA Sports, said the plan is to "own the airwaves" leading up to the Aug. 14 midnight launch of the game. "Even if you're only remotely a football fan, you'll know Madden is out."
EA Sports is running three dedicated ads. One is for Sony PlayStation 3 and features the New Orleans Saints in training camp. The Xbox 360-branded spot stars Polamalu and Fitzgerald. An EA Sports branding spot features the Pittsburgh Steelers. The advertising agencies are Heat and Freestyle Interactive. Under a joint appointment, both serve as lead strategy and creative partners on the EA Sports label.
Madden partners are also spending heavily behind the launch. GameStop has been running a TV ad encouraging pre-orders since last month. Sports Illustrated will air a commercial dangling a subscription offer. And Under Armor broke a spot tying-in with the game during the ESPY Awards.
Last week, Walmart began airing a spot for its "Turf talk" promo. Fans can go to Walmart.com/madden for tips from celebrities and NFL greats. Walmart is also rolling back the price on flowers the day of the launch so purchasers "can apologize to their wives and girlfriends about the week to come," said Stewart. Additionally, the retailer will offer team-specific hint books with the purchase of Gillette's new team-themed razors.
EA will up its spending behind the title this year during the launch and throughout the holidays, said Stewart. Overall, "we'll have a bigger media footprint than ever before. By activating with our partners we're getting tons more media." It spent $7 million behind the title last year in measured media, per Nielsen.
