With FIFA 10’s eagerly anticipated arrival only a matter of weeks away, I thought it was a good time to ask a question that’s been troubling us at Copy Republic for a few years now: what in the name of Ronaldo’s permatan is happening to FIFA taglines?I was still at EA when the FIFA 08 tagline (“Can You FIFA 08?”) was announced and many of us were a little surprised by it, to say the least. A year later however, seemingly intent on setting new marketing lows, EA SPORTS pulled another corker from their tagline tombola: “Let’s FIFA 09” (yes, let’s – wouldn’t that be simply super!).
Don’t get me wrong, I understood the reasoning behind these little treasures (the increased challenge of FIFA 08 and the groundbreaking multiplayer features of FIFA 09) but I couldn’t help wondering if there weren’t more eloquent ways of conveying these points (preferably without the grating use of “FIFA” as a verb).
However, just when you thought it was safe to go back onto the pitch, out come Burnaby’s best with FIFA 10’s tagline: “Let’s FIFA 10”. Hmm, sounds familiar…
Come on guys, it’s bad enough using it once! Besides, if that’s not an invitation for the boo boys to trot out their tired old “Same game, new lipstick” line, I don’t know what is!
Now before I start receiving death threats from EAC’s luxurious Vancouver offices, I should state for the record that I’m a FIFA man through-and-through. What’s more, I have some great friends who still work on the franchise, the latest iteration of which (I should add for the sake of balance) looks awesome.
I’m just a little surprised by the current Janet and John approach to tagline creation. I mean, what’s next? “Can We FIFA? Yes We Can!”?
Come on EA SPORTS, let’s…inject some originality into the marketing strategy for FIFA 11!
See, I don’t even work a little bit on SPORTS anymore — I only hear this kind of stuff very peripherally (from Gabe, Julie-Anne and Dave P whinging–and rightly so–about it. Apparently there is really no way to translate it either. Since it’s, you might say, MEANINGLESS.). Anyway, even being somewhat removed from the madness, I have to say it’s STILL excruciating. I really don’t understand who it is that likes this route they seem to have committed to for the long term, but perhaps he needs a talking to.