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FIFA Rebranding Project

Developed a rebranding strategy to tackle FIFA's challenge of name change due to licensing disagreement with Fédération Internationale de Football Association (F.I.F.A.).

Important Terminology​​

1. Fédération Internationale de Football Association (F.I.F.A.)

  • An international governing body of football (soccer), futsal and beach soccer

  • Highest governing body of association football

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2. FIFA Series

  • Video game developed annually by Electronic Arts

  • Being released every year since 1993

Project Background​​

Since 1993, Electronic Arts (EA) has worked in partnership with F.I.F.A. which allows EA to maintain exclusive rights to use "FIFA" as the name of it's soccer video game.

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EA has done an exceptional job of branding and marketing the FIFA video game for the past 28 years. If any random person is asked, "What is FIFA?", it is very likely that they will respond by saying "A video game", and would probably be unaware of the fact that it actually is a governing body for soccer.

 

EA announced in October of 2021 that they’re looking for options to change the name of the famous soccer game. EA said it was reviewing the naming rights agreement with Fédération Internationale de Football Association (F.I.F.A.). Various sources also reported that FIFA was seeking over double the amount of what it receives for the current deal - the amount was estimated to be of U$D1 Billion for four years.

 

EA is in a business dilemma of either paying a staggering amount of $1B or bidding farewell to FIFA and changing the name of it's most successful video game. 

Process​​

By researching strategic analysis of EA, I identified two key challenges, both related to FIFA video game:

1. Licensing disagreement with F.I.F.A. 

2. Increase in competition (new soccer video game to be released in late 2022)

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Through my personal experience of playing FIFA for the past 15 years, and through online research, I curated two key recommendations:

1. Rebranding - operating name change

  • $1 Billion is a heavy amount, and EA is already facing a lower profitability ratio as compared to other gaming industries

  • By rebranding the name, EA would be saving a cost - which in this case would be of $1 Billion

  • This saved cost can be allocated to EA's Research & Development

  • I presented a list of companies who gained massive success by opting for name change

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2. Freemium Model

  • Since FIFA's competitors released their soccer games as Free to Play (F2P), it would be viable for EA to release future FIFA games as Free to Play in order to maintain the competitive advantage

  • But how is EA going to earn revenue if FIFA is F2P? Vast portion of FIFA’s revenue comes from in-game currencies of FIFA Ultimate Team mode. In 2021, EA earned 1.4B dollars from FIFA 21’s in-game currency. Gamers are intrigued to purchase these currencies, to improve their team and be more competitive when playing with other players online

  • Moreover, freemium model while invite more players to join FIFA, increasing the purchase of in-game currencies and contributing to an increased increase revenue and profitability

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