Bobby Lynch
Professor LaPointe
English Composition I
14 February 2016
New, Again: The Power of Packaging and its Effect on Consumer Expectations The package containing the video game Madden NFL ’16 contains a single striking image on the front and a plethora of words and pictures on the back. The front contains an action shot of wide receiver Odell Beckham Junior making a one-handed grab, set against the backdrop of a full stadium almost drowned out by the bright lights illuminating it. It has the EA Sports logo in almost the dead center, covering part of Beckham’s body, under which the title is printed across the image in shiny silver lettering. The NFL logo appears four times in this one image; twice on patches on the uniform of Odell Beckham, once in the title of the game, and a final time on a holographic sticker stuck to the front of the game. In the top left corner there is a small image advertising a new game mode called Draft Champions. It contains the Draft Champions logo with the words “All-New Fantasy Mode” surrounding it. On the bottom left is the ESRB rating, E for everyone. All of this is within the parameters of the box, which contains green trim and says Xbox One at the top. The back is much busier, with three separate action shots of football players in various positions. The largest image is a cornerback in a celebratory pose, under which it says, “Your Draft. Your Fantasy.” It then goes on to describe the all new Draft Champions mode, highlighting the great degree of control the gamer has over the players in the game. An image of another player sits to the left with the words “Battle for Air Supremacy” and “Make the big play on both sides of the ball with all new controls.” Slightly further down, yet another image of a football player contains the header “A brand new way to play.” There seems to be a more practical section of the packaging below all this on the back of the game, containing mostly words and including such information as the User License Agreement and trademark information. This part is set against a black backdrop and is much less conspicuous than the robust and colorful images above. This package supports Hines’s claims that packaging communicates more than just what is in the package and that retailers are more willing to alter their packaging than their advertising. The package is almost unashamedly trying to sell the consumer the fantasy of being a professional athlete, starting with the action shot on the cover. It highlights the receiver, allowing the crowd and the stadium to almost fade into the background under the bright lights, kind of like how a person would feel actually being on the field under the lights on a big stage. Only inches away is a logo advertising a “fantasy” mode. On the back, the message is even less subtle. The most striking words are “Your Draft. Your Fantasy.” Here they do everything short of tell the consumer they can pretend to be an athlete while playing the game. The words on the back continuously refer to the consumer through the pronoun “you”, making sure to stroke the ego of the player by including powerful images and including terminology such as “air supremacy”. This term is more reminiscent of a World War II dogfight than a football game; it is simultaneously selling you the fantasy of playing professional sports with the glory of expressing dominance over another. Another way the package supports Hines’s claims is in its repeated attempts to highlight what is “new” about the game. Madden NFL games have been coming out annually for twenty seven years, and football is still the same game it was when they started making them, albeit several rules changes. There is nothing new about a Madden NFL football video game, but a consumer might think there was judging by the packaging. For something that comes out annually, the cover is very important. They used an image of a rising young star to evoke a feeling of newness amid something everyone has seen before. They also continuously, almost redundantly, advertise their new controls and game modes, using the word “new” on the front and back covers seven times without really getting into specifics about what will actually be new about them. As Hines says, this package is central to the marketing of Madden NFL video games. Every year, fans vote for a new cover athlete, giving consumers an exciting new image to look at. They surround this image with strong language aimed at getting the consumer to feel like this will be a whole new experience. EA has been able to release the same game for almost thirty years with very few changes because of the power of the package.